


Calling for Help

by Dramatic_Squirrel



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Damian x Marinette but way later, F/F, F/M, Guardian Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Lila Rossi Being a Jerk, Lila Rossi's lies are exposed eventually, Lonely Marinette, M/M, MariBat, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Knows Adrien Agreste Is Chat Noir, Marinette's identity is kept secret, Master fu is gone, OOC Justice League Characters, Romance is not a major focus of this work, Stressed Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, adrigami, because I don't really know how to write romance, because i need it for the plot, post season 3 of miraculous ladybug, they dont even meet till about ch 14
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:00:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 37,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25103566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dramatic_Squirrel/pseuds/Dramatic_Squirrel
Summary: It's been a month since the Battle of Miracle Queen and  Marinette has been struggling alone under the pressure of being the new guardian. With her training yet to have been completed, Marinette makes her first official decision as the new guardian, to ask the Justice League for help.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Kagami Tsurugi, Batfamily Members & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Alix Kubdel, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne
Comments: 157
Kudos: 1102
Collections: Maribat





	1. The Call

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfic I've written so, I welcome criticism with open arms. (Just try not to be too mean or I will break down crying alone in my room.) Feel free to ask questions as well, there is a 98% chance I'll answer the question if I see it. Also, my motivation to work on my writing is pretty random. For now, I'll do my best to have at least one chapter a week but, rest assured, the general outline of the story is finished and most of the chapter outlines have been written so, this story is getting an ending one way or another.  
> If you like some of the idea's I present in this fanfiction, I don't mind if you use them. I won't claim that they are awe-inspiring or unique but, besides the inclusion of the DCU, which was inspired by the Maribat community at large (and created by @ozmav) and, you know, the Miraculous Ladybug fandom, these ideas were thought up by me. So, if by some miracle you feel like using some of my ideas, I would like to be tagged. I love reading and would love to see what the rest of you write so, pleeeeeease tag me (^人^).  
> One final thing, my Tumblr is @dramatic-squirrel (don't follow me). So, if this story ends up on Tumblr under any other user than mine, it wasn't posted by me. I don't plan on posting this story on Tumblr unless asked and I don't have a fanfiction.net account, so if you see this story anywhere else, I would appreciate it if you could tell me so I can politely ask that they take it down.  
> Thank you if you read even part of this long a** note.

Mari didn’t know what she was doing. Pacing back and forth along the bank of the Seine, she questioned herself, over and over again.

Do I make the call? What if they don’t believe me? What if everything goes wrong? What if they figure something out? All of these questions plagued Marinette until Tikki decided to speak up. “You need to calm down Marinette. I promise you, everything will be fine.”

“But, what if it isn’t. I can’t go back after I make the call. What happens if I make the wrong choice again?” Mari asked. “I’m worried that after I make this call, everything will change again, and not for the better. It was only last month that we lost Master Fu Tikki. If I call for help now, I will be the only one there to explain everything and you know how much of a klutz I can be.” She stumbled a bit from the sun glaring in her eyes as she said this as if the world was confirming her point.

“You're not a klutz Marinette. Like everyone you stumble a bit but, you always get back up. And you don’t have to face them alone, the rest of the Kwami’s will be there with you. Wayzz, Sass, and Kaalki have agreed to be with you to explain the events and to support you. You can do it Marinette!” Tikki cheered.

Marinette looked around her, the bright blue sky, the turquoise waters that somehow happened to be beautiful yet murky at the same time. For once, the city didn’t smell overtly of gasoline and running construction. It smelled like sunshine, it seemed like the first nice day since the Miracle Queen incident, the first day without gloom and overcast skies. Somehow, it was encouraging so Marinette took this as a sign, “Tikki, spots on!” and she transformed, mind made up to take this first step in asking for help.

She took out her yo-yo, opened it up, and made the call. “Hello, Justice League? This is the Parisian hero Ladybug, I would like to ask for your help with a situation in Paris. It’s taken some time to inform you of our problem in the City of Love but, it was for reasons that can only be explained if you agree to help us. 

Me and my partner are currently facing off against a villain named Hawkmoth. He, along with my partner and I have been using the miraculous to either protect or harm the city. I don’t know how much information you have about the miraculous but, they and the situation can be explained in more detail if you all are willing to help. If you feel the need to come to Paris and observe the situation first, before making a decision, I ask that you send someone who has control over their emotions. I hope you can help me, my partner, and the rest of Paris, bug out.”

Not even thirty seconds after Marinette ended the call did she groan. “Ugh. I sound completely unprofessional at the end. Why did I end it that way? And they’re definitely going to get insulted that I didn’t call them earlier, I should have left that out. Explained if they asked, but left it unsaid for as long as possible.” 

At that moment a crash could be heard from further down the bank of the Seine. “Looks like I have work to do, thank god I’m already transformed”.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

“Good afternoon, Ladybug. Fine weather for an attack, don’t you agree?” As always Chat brought a level of levity to the situation. Ladybug always hated those puns when things were too serious to joke about, but they also made the life of a superhero easier to deal with. They may be stupid puns, but they were puns that let her take a step back from fighting for a second and remember they were just teenagers. To take the pressure of having the fate of the world rest on their shoulders and help her clear her mind of the pressure. They allowed her to think, except when he made those damn jokes during a lucky charm.

“We’ll this purr-petrator certainly knows how to pick a day, but their timing could use a bit more work.” joked Ladybug. “I just got done with the call to the Justice League, any sooner and it would have been a disaster.” Chat Noir just smiled politely back at her. 

They observed the victim from the rooftop of a nearby apartment complex. The residents had a terrace garden that made it easy to hide behind all of the flora. The villain this time was Officer Raincomprix as Rogercop, only this time he had a little extra help in the form of a sentimonster that resembled a transformer. It was roughly the size of a two-story building and appeared to operate as a regular car would. Except this car could move around of its own free will and smash Ladybug and Chat Noir like insects.

They observe him for a couple more minutes trying to figure out where the akumatized and amokized objects are located. “He has his whistle, so, likely, the Akuma is in there again but, where is the amok?” questioned Chat. Ladybug observed the transformer again. Nothing stood out. Most of the things on the car looked like regular car parts just… rearrange into a robot. 

“Maybe it’s inside of the transformer?” she speculated “It is essentially a car, and if Rogercop was akumatized inside his patrol vehicle then, the amok could have landed on something inside the car. The only question is how do we get in there?”

“We’ll need someone small enough to go in unnoticed or someone invisible enough to get through his vision. I think the mouse or the dragon miraculouses would be most useful here. The dragon’s out unless you want to unify with your ladybug miraculous. Maybe you could get Marinette to be Multimouse again, and, as dangerous as this might be, we might be able to toss her or place her on top of the transformer and she can sneak in.”

She thought about her choices, Kagami is too well known to be a holder again, all of them are too well known now. And there are a limited number of people who she can trust with a miraculous, so it would be better if she just unified with her ladybug miraculous. But, if she shows up as Multi-Bug, Chat will figure out her identity, and that can’t happen right now.

A loud crash brought Ladybug back to reality. Her mind made up. “I’m going to get the dragon miraculous, stay out of sight. For now, evacuate citizens when possible. The element of surprise will be our biggest asset, so please, try not to be seen.” With that, she leapt away from the battle back to her room. 

Opening the miracle box she took out the dragon miraculous and put it on. “Tikki, Longg, unify” and like that dragonbug made her reappearance. As she hurried back to Chat the sun seemed to glare a bit more brightly than before, she was getting a splitting headache and it was getting more and more difficult to focus.

Stumbling a bit next to Chat she told him “Distract Rogercop and the transformer. I’ll sneak in with the wind dragon and get the object. I’ll break it once I’m out of there and we’ll take care of Rogercop together.” Then, with barely any time to react, she was off again, and Chat was left with his mission. The decoy, again.

“Sure thing, Ladybug,” he said to the air. Then he went off to distract Rogercop. He jumped in front of Rogercop, “What’s got your attention arrested Rogercop?”

“Chat Noir” the robotic voice sounded, “known fugitive and vigilante in Paris. You are to be arrested and your miraculous confiscated.”

“Yeah… so, I’m going to keep my miraculous, I mean that threat stopped working after the second time someone made that threat, and I will let you try and catch me if you can. It’ll be a cat and mouse game!” he beamed and then ran off. Rogercop was quick to follow.

The transformer was however having a difficult time navigating the streets of Paris without accidentally crushing it’s less sentient brothers. But, as it made its way toward Chat Noir, slow as that may be, Dragonbug called on the power of the wind and slipped into the car.

Where was that amokized item? She thought. There were the keys, the steering wheel, god she hoped the item wasn’t an actual part of the car. She continued to look around the bright blue and surprisingly clean interior of the car. And there, that’s it. The item was a rearview mirror ornament, a small one with a short-chain so that there was no way it would block the driver’s vision and so short that it was almost hidden behind the mirror. It looked like before it was amokized that it was a homemade gift, a small beaded ornament with a tiny police officer badge at the end, like a lucky charm. No doubt given to Officer Raincomprix by his daughter or wife.

Dragonbug grabbed the item and vaulted out of the door. When the car realized what was happening he tried to grab her but she called the power the lightning dragon and escaped, quickly catching up with Chat Noir. “Okay, time to lose Rogercop and his Rogercar and purify the amok.” She made to grab him so she could swing them both away but, hesitated and pulled back. Chat Noir, no Adrien, has a girlfriend. 

He launched himself away from Rogercop on his own and Ladybug followed suit. They continued to travel until they came to the Place des Vosges. The air was stifling but, they had a job to do and Ladybug quickly broke the charm and out flew the feather. She caught it before it could get far and escape. She couldn’t have done it any sooner because just as the feather was caught the duo could see the transformer turn back into a regular police car, which meant Roger cop was going to be there soon.

“We need to take cover, should we split up?” Chat asked LB.

“Let me call my Lucky Charm first, I may need you close by,” she called her power and down came a bag of flour? She looked around the park, the carousel, Chat noir’s cataclysm, and a jump rope. Yeah, that’ll work. She quickly filled him in on what he had to do and then they were off.

Rogercop arrived at the park but before he could properly observe his surroundings flour flew everywhere. Lucky for Ladybug the air was still that day, not even a slight breeze was blowing so the flour that flew up in the air everywhere, stayed. Obscuring everything in a messy haze of white, Rogercop couldn’t see anything. But, Ladybug and Cat Noir could make out the sirens on Rogercop’s shoulders.

Rogercop turned around trying to find the superheroes so that he could incapacitate them but he couldn’t make anything out. And as an officer of Justice, he couldn’t start shooting randomly, there is no telling if he would hit an innocent bystander or not, and if there is one thing police should not do it’s firing at innocent and unarmed people.

The Akuma heard a noise coming from his right, a scuffle, and without hesitation, he shot in that direction, but nothing was hit. Fearlessly Rogercop moved closer to the spot he heard the noise from but when he got to the approximate area he found nothing. 

Another noise came slightly to the left and in front of him. He charged toward, shooting his handcuffs out, trying to catch the heroes this time. He stepped onto a platform and just as the flour was settling around him he heard it 

"Cataclysm!" An object crumbled to dust, a stomp as someone landed behind him, and a ZIP of a line pulling on something and then something hit his back forcing him to hunch over.

The flour settled fully and Rogercop could see again. Chat had destroyed the top of the carousel, which left room for Ladybug to pull her yo-yo around the bars of the carousel and yank them until they formed a makeshift teepee structure. A structure too small for Rogercop to move around freely in but he could still shoot his bracelets at the duo.

Just as he had put his arms through the bars to aim his first shot, Ladybug shot down from where she had taken cover and, taking the jump rope from around her waist, tied down the guns so that they wouldn't open. She then proceeded to take the whistle from the akumatized villain.

Purifying the Akuma she turned towards Chat Noir ready for a fist bump… only to see that he was already getting ready to head off. “Great Job, Ladybug! Hopefully, we won’t have to be seeing each other too soon. Ha-ha… bye!” he shouted over his shoulder. And then he was gone. She understood, if there wasn’t another Akuma then they wouldn’t be seeing each other again, a good thing right? Yeah… I mean who would want extra, unplanned work. But, she couldn’t help but feel a bit lonely.

Adrien has a girlfriend, she gave up on him. But, why can’t they hang out as Ladybug and Chat Noir, like before the incident? Because he has a girlfriend she reminded herself, how awkward is it to hang around your previous crush while dating someone else? 

Her earrings beeped, reminding her of another thing to worry about, and she quickly headed to her balcony. Making sure to swing around the bakery as if she was going somewhere else.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new dynamics of Ms. Bustier's class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick explanation of the timeline, it's all over the place. Since even Astruc doesn't seem to have a grasp on his characters' ages, I'm making Marinette 14 here. About 1 year from the origins has passed but no, they haven't changed classes. The students will, in my fic, be in their 9th year of schooling, and, while they have advanced a grade level, the class remains the same because it is a small school with few students and fewer teachers. So, based on my admittedly limited research and knowledge of the French Schooling system, the class would begin their first year of high school 1 year from the beginning of my story.

The next day started like every other day that month, with Marinette practically falling over herself to rush to school before she’s late. Thankfully she lives just across the school and thankfully her parents own the best bakery in Paris. Fresh croissants are always an option, and a quick one too.

Rushing into the front doors of the school, she made it, with five minutes before the morning bell rang. She could see Alix, Marc, and Nathaniel under the stairs, Marc’s favorite spot. It looked like they were discussing the newest comic book. In another corner of the courtyard, she could see Kitty Section, minus Luka but with the addition of Mylene, talking about the recent dates they went on over the weekend.

Then there was the other group of students. Alya, Nino, Kim, and Max. They weren’t especially close but, after they discovered that each of them were chosen to be heroes at some point, they ended up hanging out more often, usually with the inclusion of ‘Ladybug’s best friend’, Lila. Apparently she ended up lying after everything, taking credit for their roles as superheroes, claiming that she was the one who recommended her classmates to Ladybug.

But that was fine. Marinette could live with that lie. If Lila wanted to paint a target on her back then that was fine because it got suspicion off of her. With nowhere to go, Marinette headed up to the classroom early. She didn’t want to intrude and, tired as she was, she didn’t quite feel up to the task of socializing.

As she made her way up the stairs, swaying slightly from side to side, she failed to notice her classmates look at her in concern. Juleka noticed how she went up without saying good morning to anyone. She shared the same concerned look with Ivan, this wasn’t like Marinette, and she hasn’t been like herself for a long time.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

Alya glanced at Marinette, and while she was busy with her conversation with Kim, she was worried about her best friend. Ever since Adrien started dating Kagami, Marinette hadn’t been herself, she had been more withdrawn. But, how can she help? She tried at first, girls nights, movies, eating ice cream, trying to talk to her. Yet, nothing really got Marinette to feel better. So, she tried distracting her with things she was posting on her blog, and still, Marinette stayed withdrawn, in fact, whenever she brought up Ladybug or Lila or Chat Noir, the three biggest topics on her blog, Marinette got even worse. 

Alya didn’t know how to help Marinette. And they had only grown apart since it seemed that neither of them had much to talk about. I mean, Alya could hardly talk about fashion all the time, especially when journalism was her area of interest. And sure they had similar tastes in music but, they could only talk about one topic for so long before it became stale. The past two weeks their relationship had been falling apart and while Alya cared, she felt like it was unavoidable. People make new friends, and people move on. Marinette will be fine, I mean, she has other friends, right?

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

Alix noticed something entirely different about the class. She noticed how everyone saw Marinette but, no one bothered to say good morning to her anymore, no one tried to talk to the girl. It got worse whenever Lila came in, Marinette would be all but forgotten. There was a new popular group in school, the hero group and the only non-heroes in the group were Adrien and Lila.

Most people liked the group, unlike the usual popular groups, no one was inherently mean. Alix, on the other hand, just didn’t care for them. “Hey Marc, Nathaniel, I’m gonna catch Mari before class. Had some questions I needed answered about an upcoming event.” And like that she disappeared, leaving the two lovebirds to their “child”.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

Up in the classroom, Marinette was sitting in the back seat. About a week ago the seating changed again. Lila was now sitting next to Alya in the front seats, Adrien and Nino sitting in the seats to the right were Chloe and Sabrina used to sit. Max and Kim moved forward to sit behind the BrOTP and Rose and Mylene sat behind Alya and Lila. As a result, Juleka and Ivan ended up next to each other. Chloe was moved to the very back of the class but, she was the one that now sat alone. A lot of things changed for Chloe when she became Miracle Queen. In the last row, behind Ivan and Juleka sat Marinette and Sabrina. Those two never talked to each other but, neither wanted to sit next to Chloe either. Unfortunately, Sabrina was going to have to sit next to Chloe or Nathaniel today because Alix took the seat next to Mari.

“Hey Mari, how are you today?” Alix asked. Marinette lifted her head from her sketchbook in surprise. 

“Oh! Hey Alix, I’m fine. Is everything going well with you? Did you need something?” Marinette replied.

“Nah, just thought I’d switch seats today. Everyone knows you can get away with more in the back. Figured it would be a good chance to catch up with you too. Haven’t seen you around the art club recently, the teacher’s been disappointed, says the rooms been lacking in ‘sunshine’ since you stopped showing up”

“Maybe I’ll stop by if I find the time then. You know how busy it can be, you know with class president duties, helping my parents, school work, babysitting.” It was true that all of those duties took up a lot of time but, the most time consuming was babysitting. Not Manon, she only shows up occasionally now that she was in first grade. No, she had to babysit the kwami’s now. It seemed too cruel to leave them in their miraculi all the time, so she liked to let them out. She had Tikki full time but she tried to have 2 other kwamis out as well, usually having at least one of the calmer Kwamis, like Wayzz, Longg, and Sass with some of the crazier ones like Xuppu, Fluff or Barkk.

“Well… if you ever need help I can spare some time. I’m not really good with kids, but I can help with any class president duties.”

“I thought you didn’t want to be class president?”

“I’m not really one to care about those things. But, you only got stuck with the job yourself because you were protecting us from Chloe’s cruel reign. It’s not like you wanted it either.”

Before Alix could get more out of Marinette, the hero group came in, and in the middle of the group was Lila, spouting off some nonsense about needing help again. “I’m sorry everyone. I wish I could help you find Ladybug after school but, my tinnitus is acting up and it hurts to walk for too long. And I would offer you her number but, you know… after what happened with Chloe… she’s been distancing herself from me.” The group turned to glare at Chloe as she came in behind them.

“It’s okay Lila” Kim comforted her. “We wouldn’t want you to do anything that puts you in pain or makes you uncomfortable. Do you need any help getting to your seat?” And like that everyone was once again taking care of Lila. That was in fact how most of the day went. Her supposed arthritis still existed so Alya was taking notes for two people. Her tendonitis in her heel prevented her from going up and giving a presentation, so Max had to do it on his own. And once she tried to imply that Marinette was bullying her.

That got shut down pretty quickly. Before anyone could react, even Alix, Adrien stepped up.

“I’m sure that it was a misunderstanding Lila. Marinette isn’t the type of person to insult someone when it's undeserved. She might call Chloe a brat-”

“Hey!”

“- but she always says these things when they usually do something wrong to her friends. So, if Marinette called you a liar, I’m sure it was because she was defending her friends. Right Marinette?” Marinette on the other hand barely looked up, too done with the whole situation to care too much. “Right. Mari probably thought you were lying about all of those promises you made and have yet to fulfill. But, I’m sure that you will eventually, right? Marinette was just concerned over her friends being disappointed.” 

Everything Adrien said made the class look back at Marinette in gratitude, for being such a caring friend, even if none of them spoke to her much these days. Lila on the other hand was seething on the inside. Adrien never spoke up about the lies if they were about herself but, the second she tries to take Marinette down, he always undermines her. No matter, it’s not like she has anyone anyways. Lila barely did anything, one little lie and everyone flocked around her. So what if Mari’s reputation remained. She’ll be remembered as the helpful class president but, no one will remember anything else about her.

Eventually, the final bell rang and the school day was out. Alix tried to get Marinette to come to the art club one last time but she refused.

“I’m sorry Alix, I really want to study for the brevet. It’s still a few months away but, you can never start studying too early,” and like that she slipped away headed across the street and into the bakery.

Meanwhile, on the far side of Paris, near the Eiffel Tower, stood two figures, a tall woman with black hair in a business suit and a blond-haired man wearing a red flannel and white t-shirt. They were looking at the place where everything apparently began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the main source of my research on French classes: https://www.frenchtoday.com/blog/french-culture/the-french-school-system-explained/  
> Also, feel free to correct me, if I make a mistake, I might not fix it in this story but, I will take it into account so I can learn from my mistakes. And please correct me on tags if they are incorrect or missing something, I'm not always sure how I should tag something.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette meets the Justice League, and things don't end well...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, trigger warning (I think). I'm not sure if it's needed but Marinette has a panic attack in this chapter (or my best approximation of a panic attack) and if that might make you uncomfortable I placed this asterisks (****) before and after the major part of the panic attack so you can avoid it if you would like to.

It had been about a week since Ladybug had made the call to the Justice League, and her nerves were killing her. She knew that she would have to be patient but, whether it was good or bad news, the waiting was eating away at her. Expecting a callback but not knowing when the call would come… yeah... that’s the worst way to spend your free time.

Thankfully there weren’t too many Akuma attacks but, every fight got harder because every Akuma seemed to come with its own sentimonster now. It wasn’t too bad when they faced an Akuma they already beat but any new Akuma’s with a sentimonster... that was a lot for the duo to handle.

That afternoon Ladybug had just finished up with another Akuma. Another Pigeon man situation and thankfully it was a rare case with no sentimonster. Honestly, it surprised everyone that Hawkmoth has tried this again, it gets easier every time, so easy that she didn’t even need to use her lucky charm and none of the pigeons caused enough damage to warrant a miraculous cure.

Chat Noir also didn’t show up because after the 40th time they face Mr. Pigeon, Ladybug just couldn’t bear to see her partner have to suffer through his allergies. ‘Maybe that’s why Hawkmoth continued to use Mr. Pigeon’ she mused.

After 2 minutes of dealing with reporters once the battle had ended, she encountered the people that had been on her mind all week. They stopped her in the middle of the street, in front of everyone.

“You are Ladybug, correct?” asked the woman who she recognized as Wonder Woman.

“Uh… yea- I mean… Yes, I’m Ladybug. Are you here about my call to the Justice League last week?” Ladybug responded.

“Yes. I and several other members would like to talk to you somewhere a bit more private about the matter at hand. Would you be able to lead us somewhere safe to discuss these matters?”

Ladybug looked at all of the reporters around them, filming and taking photos. “Sure, sure. Follow me.” She led them to the top of Notre Dame, not many people would be able to see them up there.

When Marinette turned around, there, along with Wonder Woman, was the Flash, Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern. All of the big names of the Justice League were there.

When everyone was gathered Green Lantern exploded. “How could you not call us sooner! You’re just a child, what were you thinking, fighting a villain on your own! You’re what, 13 years old!?”

“Now calm down Green Lantern” Flash placated. “We don’t need you causing an argument here.”

“No, but we do need a reasonable explanation for why we were uninformed of this situation,” stated Superman. “Ladybug,” he addressed her, “it was very irresponsible to think that you could handle this problem on your own, while we don’t know everything, we are very disappointed that you didn’t reach out to us sooner.”

“You could have caused irreversible damage. The Eiffel Tower? You had it destroyed just to save the day? Who cares if you restore everything. That must have been very traumatic for all the people in the area!” cut in Green Lantern.

Now that comment wasn’t fair in Ladybug’s opinion. Superman practically destroys Metropolis every time he fights.

“What if you lost? Something terrible could have happened” someone else input.

“Yes. This is a truly disappointing turn of events. The situation could have been handled better.”

“Did you not trust the league to protect you?”

“Who entrusted such an important task to you? Who trusts a child with a terrorist threat?”

****All of the voices were blending together. Drowning out anything she would have said, anything she may have said to defend herself. All accusing her of failure. Soon it was too hard to even understand what the voices were saying, they just kept getting louder and louder.

She wished they would just shut up. Shut up. Shut UP. SHUT UP.

“Stop IT! At least I wasn’t ignorant about a situation that has been ongoing for almost a whole year. In one of the most popular cities in the world! And I haven’t failed yet! Besides, it’s not like the rest of you are any better about asking for help. And at least I finally asked!” She exploded as she broke down crying. “I know that I need help, and the first thing you people do when I ask is to yell at me. I’m already so stressed in my civilian life and now you people have to pile on all my failures as a superhero. I failed Master Fu, I failed Chloe, I failed to save my partner. I failed Luka and Kagami and Alya and Nino and Kim and all the other heroes with my mistakes!

“And this was just another mistake! Tikki was wrong, I shouldn’t have called.” Marinette clutched her head and was prepared to leave when the kwamis that she let out of the miraculous for the day stopped her. The Justice League also stopped, utterly surprised by these small flying creatures that appeared out of nowhere.

“Calm down guardian, it will be okay.” It was Sass. “Your emotions are too volatile, you are at high risk for attracting an Akuma right now. It would be ideal for you to leave Paris for a bit to calm down.” Honestly, Marinette would have agreed with the tiny god of Second Chances. It was still hard to breathe and she wasn’t sure she could make it past the street. But, she barely heard Sass, all she could hear were those voices.****

“It was very foolish of you all to come here and start accusing our Guardian.” Wayzz was speaking this time. Based on what he was saying, it was directed at the Justice League. “She seems to be having a panic attack, we should move her, somewhere out of the city. Your base perhaps?”

Finally, Wonder Woman moved. “Of course, let us take her to the watchtower.”

“Wonder Woman, we barely know the girl. We didn’t trust most of our sidekicks with the watchtower, not to mention some random teenage superhero girl.”

“Well, it seems to me that there are few better options for where we can go. We need a place out of the city, correct? And we need to get there fast, yes? And does it look like she can stand Superman, Flash, or me carrying her? No. I think not. We shall take her to the watchtower to calm down.”

When Wonder Woman made up her mind there was no arguing anymore. So, they took her to the watchtower. The kwamis knew it wasn’t going to help her calm down but, at least she couldn’t get akumatized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about my Justice League characters. They'll probably be OOC, I try my best but, frankly, my understanding of the characters' personalities, in particular the Batfam, come from things I've seen in the fandom.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Justice League decides what to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in less than 24 hours? Madness. I felt like adding another chapter tonight, I had it written and just edited it so, why not? I would not expect this to be a common occurrence though. But enjoy another chapter

“Apparently it was wise of Master Fu to disagree when Ladybug first suggested calling you,” Wayzz told the Justice League when they ended up in the watchtower. Ladybug, meanwhile, was still trying to calm down. Her emotions overpowering any sense of logic she could make.

“Wait, what? Who is Master Fu? Why did he think it was a bad idea to contact us?” asked Superman while Flash went over to Ladybug to help one of the kwami’s settle her down.

“Master Fu was the previous Guardian of the Miracle Box. He has since been retired, the mantle was passed on to the young Ladybug as of a month ago.” Wayzz explained.

“Well, where is this Master now!? How could he leave a child in charge?”

“He is gone…” Wayzz looked down, a hint of sadness in his voice, “But, that is of no concern at the moment. Our new guardian contacted you to ask for help. It would be more prudent to talk about whether your group has decided to help us.”

“Of course we’ll help. We just need a bit more information on the matter at hand, your call hardly explained everything and our observations were only enough to confirm that the villains are Hawkmoth and Mayura and that any damage that has occurred during a fight is repaired by Ladybug. But, we need to know more so we can make the best move forward.” Batman explained.  
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
At the same time, Flash was calming Marinette down. “Hey, calm down kid, it’s alright,” he said gently. “We’re sorry that we lashed out at you, we’re just concerned. You’ve done a great job at keeping Paris safe, it’s just that, all of us are used to knowing when the fate of the world is at stake that we just freaked out for the moment.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so… hic… sorry. I just… I need help. I feel all alone and there isn’t anyone to talk to about all of this except for the kwamis. It’s just a lot of pressure and I… just want help to stop Hawkmoth.” 

“It’s okay kid. We’ll talk it out. And this time, if Green Lantern gets out of hand again, I’ll knock him out.” Marinette giggled, calming down a bit more after that comment.

“Thank you.” She said. At that moment Batman walked up to her.

“Are you okay to talk about the situation now,” he asked.

“Uh, yeah, I think so,” Ladybug proceeded to explain everything just like she was asked, her voice hoarse and occasionally breaking because of her crying from before. She told of how Hawkmoth and Mayura’s powers work, where they got their powers from and what happened to the guardian.

“Why are they doing any of this?”

“If you observed our fights, I assume you know they are after mine and Chat Noir’s miraculi. When the two are combined, they can grant any wish to the user. No one really knows what Hawkmoth could want but, if he’s terrorizing a city to get what he wants it’s doubtful that he would wish for world peace or an end to hunger. Even if he did, there would be consequences, the miraculi are about balance. It’s not always clear what change the universe makes to balance out the wish but, there is always something and it usually involves altering reality. ”

And why did you wait until now to contact us.” Green Lantern asked although it sounded fairly accusatory. Flash glared at him from where he was standing to the right of Ladybug, and Wonder Woman was looking at him the same way. Needless to say, Green Lantern took a step back, away from those two protective hens.

“Well, at first I was new to the situation. The miraculous just appeared in my room one day, and so, I assumed that the person who gave me the miraculous knew what he was doing. When I finally met Master Fu, we discussed this at length. We did not want to risk a hero of the Justice League being akumatized. That would be a disaster and I’m not sure that me and Chat could win that fight. And neither of us saw a pressing need at the time, Chat Noir and I were managing. Now, Mayura has been becoming more active, what was once a sentimonster a month is now a sentimonster with nearly every Akuma and I am no closer to finding Hawkmoth. I’ve also lost a lot of my back up team with the incident with Miracle Queen. I decided, with encouragement from the rest of the kwamis, that the benefits outweigh the risks in this case.”

“And you have had no help with any of this? What about your partner, Chat Noir?” asked Superman

Marinette shifts uncomfortably. “I want to confide in Chat and get his help but Chat Noir is not that much different from me. We’re the same age, trusted with a responsibility neither of us were fully prepared for or had the option to reject. And I know he has a busy civilian life. If I can barely handle all of this, I doubt Chat Noir would be able to handle it either. Not to mention, there are few things that Chat could help with in the first place. Being Ladybug is my job, and we already found out that he isn’t really suited for the role. And then my duty as a Guardian can’t be passed to Chat Noir even if I wanted to do it.”

“What do you mean by that last statement?” Batman asked

“As far as I am aware, the only way to pass on the guardianship involves losing one’s memories, I can’t risk that at this moment.” The Justice League looked suitably horrified by this information.

“Well, it seems that the situation is forcing you to take on the majority of responsibility here,” Batman observed. “You are the only one with the ability to purify the akumas and restore the city. Since you apparently cannot pass on the duties as guardian, the most logical way to help you would be to train you, to be a better hero, and assist where appropriate. You were right, if one of us became akumatized it could be world ending. What if Superman got akumatized? His new power could be to negate any effects of his weakness, and then he would be indestructible.”

“That’s all fine and all but who is going to train her?” asked Flash. “We all have responsibilities in our own cities.”

Ladybug checked something on her yo-yo. “Um, I’m sorry to interrupt but I have to get back. My mother will be expecting me for dinner soon. It seems as though you can’t contact me through my yo-yo as I can you. So, I’ll set up a burner phone when I get back and leave the number for you to contact me when you've figured everything out."

Then, Ladybug left with Wonder woman escorting her out, leaving behind the other superheroes to discuss how to move forward with all of this new information.  
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
“Okay, so who’s gonna train her?” Flash asked again.

“I think you should Flash,” Green Lantern said. “You already managed to calm her down from a panic attack, so she’ll already have a bit more trust in you. And you can run from Central City to Paris in about 5 seconds.”

“3 seconds but, that’s beside the point. I still have to work a regular job to earn money, you know being a superhero doesn’t pay the bills. Besides running takes up a lot of energy, I can’t and don’t run at the speed of light to get to wherever I want to go.”

“Then what about Wonder Woman?” Superman interjected. “She seems pretty compatible with Ladybug and can teach the combat side of fighting. From what we saw, she seems to be able to use her powers reasonably well”

“That would be fine Clark. However, you forget that I am an ambassador for my people. I am to be in America establishing a relationship between your country and Thermyscaria. Perhaps I would be able to spare some time to help train, but much of my time is used in learning how to be a better ruler and fully adapting to a modern world.

“Well then, it seems like Batman should be the one to train her.” Green Lantern put in. “Superman would kill her if he tried to train her and she has no ring, so what would I teach her? You may have responsibilities as a CEO Bruce, but I’m sure you could afford to lose a couple million.”

“Feel free to help fund the Justice League then, Hal. However, I agree that I should help her train. I’ll spend some time setting up her training and then have one of my former sidekicks take on her training. There is no telling what the rouges would get up to in my long-term absence. And I can oversee the Paris branch of Wayne Enterprises while there. Some strange numbers have been coming back from that branch. It’s suspicious. I’ll make preparations and will be ready by the end of the week.”

“There is one other person we should ask to help train the young warrior though,” Wonder Woman interjected. “She is a warrior who fights with magic, and magic is not exactly Batman’s specialty. We should have Zatanna come in and help Ladybug learn about magic, particularly whatever type of magic the miraculouses are.” With that, the decision was made. Zatanna would teach Ladybug magic, Batman would oversee her combat training.

Everyone left shortly after to attend their own duties and think about the mistakes that they all made that day and that past year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if you have any questions about my logic. I tried to come up with plausible explanations for why things happen the way they happen but, I may not have explained it as clearly as I could have.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A cameo appearance from the greatest trio that never was and Kagami is heartless (because she kind of just threw away her friendship with Marinette in the finale).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the Kudos! ヽ(✿ﾟ▽ﾟ)ノ Its kind of hard to believe that any of you actually read and like this, much less give kudos, so thanks.   
> Also, be forewarned, if you post a comment I will respond cause I want you to know I read your comments and opinions and I do take them seriously so, special thank you to those who comment! (=^_^=). (The first comment I got made my day until a spider crawled on me at work and the second one, encouraged me to keep at this no matter what.)

For once, Marinette wasn’t running late for school. As she was crossing the street, however, she saw them. Adrien and Kagami. They were holding hands and when she saw them, Marinette’s heart began to hurt.

“Are you okay Marinette?” Tikki asked her, Ziggy and Mullo also glanced at her in concern.

“Yeah… I’m fine” Marinette softly replied. As she walked past the couple, up the stairs, she caught Kagami’s gaze. The steeled determination, the unapologetic look she gave. Marinette looked away first. She let Kagami and Adrien get together, not that she could have really stopped them, Kagami doesn’t hesitate.

While passing the couple, Marinette managed to also catch the gaze of Nino and Alya, hanging out with the other former heroes again. Their gazes didn’t linger, quickly going back to their conversation with Lila. ‘Almost like they're ignoring me’ Marinette thought vaguely.

After that interaction with her former best friends, she climbed up the stairs more quickly. While running up the steps she caught the attention of a few of her other classmates again. 

Juleka saw what happened, the look that passed between Marinette and her former friends. How Kagami seemed to disregard the friendship between the designer and herself. How Alya and Nino didn’t say good morning or even wave hello. 

Juleka went to go see Marinette and see how the bluenette was holding up after all the new changes. She should have checked on her friend sooner but Juleka wasn’t great at talking and speaking, but she could try to be there for Marinette now.

“Hey Mari…” she greeted.

“Oh. Hey Juleka, did you need something from me?”  
Juleka wanted to comfort Marinette but couldn’t really express herself or her words well. So she said the first thing that came to mind. “Would you like to come to Kitty Section’s practice later today? We… My brother would be really glad to see you.”

That made Marinette smile slightly. Luka. He was such a great friend, really supportive. With everything changing around her, he was still there, the same Luka as always. “Sure,” she answered. “I would love to come by later to see you guys practice. What time?” And like that, plans were made. Marinette was going to take some time just for herself if that meant she didn’t do as well on that chemistry exam later than that was going to be okay. Yeah, that was going to be just fine.  
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
The same as always. Rose’s vocals nearly deafened anyone on the small, cluttered houseboat and anyone walking past. Marinette sat back enjoying the music her friends were inspired to make. It was slightly chilly as it was getting late in the day, the small breeze from the Seine sending a mist of water towards the group.

They finished their song and then decided to take a small break so that Rose doesn’t strain her vocal cords too much. Luka walked over with his guitar and sat next to Marinette. He didn’t talk, just started playing. The melody conflicted. Parts were soft and melancholic, and other parts sounded like the roiling of a stormy sea, chaotic. But, there was an underlying note of something strong, something fighting-- it was hard to catch what exactly it was.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Luka asked her. She didn’t. How was she supposed to talk about her problems, her anxiety over the decision of the Justice League or the responsibility she has on her shoulders. How do you talk about something like that without giving away your secret identity? 

“I don’t really want to talk about it.” was the only response she could give.

“Okay. But, you seem to be doing better than that time before the Miracle Queen incident.” The scene of him holding her came to mind and a blush rose on her face.

“Yeah, not everything is solved but, I finally got some help from someone. I can’t really say anything more except that, we’re not exactly sure how to go forward with dealing with… well… everything.” It was nerve-wracking, not being in charge, waiting for someone else to make the plans.

“That’s great news to hear,” Luka commented, his eyes downcast. They sat side by side for the rest of the break.   
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
When practice was over, Marinette said her goodbyes going in a different direction from everyone else. And she just tried to enjoy the evening scene in Paris. With the sun just setting in the distance, the sky was lit with a fiery orange glow, the dark blue just beginning to descend upon the sky. Surprisingly the night was quiet, few people were out but Marinette observed the people that were there.

The mother with her two children. Both kids running around, one chasing the other, both laughing in joy. Their mother looked on in exasperation and resignation. One could tell she already told them to calm down. Despite the headache she must have been getting, you could see the slightest, fond smile on her face as she watched the two play.

Down the street were two businessmen. One was laughing and joking around. The other, an older middle-aged man looking annoyed. The younger of the two threw his arm around his companion, and if one had to guess, probably mentioned how his friend should loosen up and relax.

Sitting on a bench, an old woman and a younger woman. Someone who may be her relative or caretaker. But, they sat close with a familiarity that spoke to a close and loving relationship, like that of a parent and child. They sat side by side looking at a worn-out photo, a bittersweet smile on their faces.

Then there was a group of three, kids around her age, hanging out together and arguing about something. Marinette overheard a bit of their conversation. “If a mermaid eats a fish it does not count as cannibalism.” 

“Yes, it does Allegra. Merpeople are half-fish, therefore it counts.”  
“But they are also half-human, meaning a different species, meaning that it is not cannibalism. Cannibalism only counts when a being eats its species. Sharks aren’t labeled as cannibals even though they eat fish.”

“But, if each merperson was half of a specific species of fish then, would that count. If a half clownfish mermaid ate a clownfish, that seems an awful lot like cannibalism.” interjected the boy in green.

“You see Allegra, Alec is on my side.”

“I’m not on anyone’s side, just pointing out facts”

“You boys are unbelievable, I can’t believe we are even discussing this! Merpeople are not real!”

“Take that back! Just because you haven’t seen one doesn’t mean they can’t exist. We know less about the ocean than we do about space and we have yet to rule out the existence of aliens.”

Eventually, they moved too far away from Marinette and she couldn’t hear them anymore. But, she couldn’t help but smile at the group's antics. At all of the people she saw. They were just living peaceful everyday lives. They were living, and that was a miracle in and of itself. Seeing how other people were happy and living, for a moment it made it seem like everything she was doing, that she was keeping Paris safe and happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if the conversation between the quantic kids was weird. I know it is but, I figured Claude would be the kind of person to start that conversation and would be that kind of person to pull his friends into such a nonsensical debate.  
> And sorry if you'll like Kagami. I like her too but, she did choose Adrien over Marinette in the finale of season 3.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this chapter's a bit boring. I felt it necessary to go over this information though so, sorry for the exposition.¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Later that night was the night she went to go meet her new mentor. She had received the message during Kitty Section’s last song. It was last minute but, who was she to complain about how the experienced heroes dealt with things.

The message said to meet up at the Eiffel Tower at midnight. This was not going to help her sleep schedule but, if she was being honest, she would have been awake anyway. When she got to the meeting spot she was somewhat surprised, there were three people, Batman, Zatanna, and Nightwing. Nightwing was unexpected, why was Batman’s... sidekick? Partner? Associate?... Here?

“Ladybug.” Batman greeted her. “I’m glad you could make it on short notice. I will be supervising your martial arts training while Zatanna will help you learn more about magic. The Justice League thought this would be the most suitable choice.

“Okay… but why is Nightwing here as well?” she asked.

“Well, when I heard that Batman was going to train you, I immediately packed my bags. I have experience with his training and I couldn’t let another kid get blindsided by him. Someone has to control him.” Perhaps he was trying to be funny but, by the way, Ladybug’s face pulled taunt, they all knew he missed the mark by a mile. “Um... don’t worry about that. I’m really here because I am going to be the one to mostly train you. B-man here can’t be from Gotham for too long so, me and the rest of his former sidekicks will spend a lot of time training you while, Batman supervises, sometimes from Gotham”

“Are you done Nightwing?” Batman asked. With a nod from Nightwing Batman continued. “Before we discuss what you will be taught, I would like to go over some rules. You place a lot of importance on the secrecy of your identity. I agree that for this situation it’s better if identities remain secret. If the wrong person were to find out who you are, it could expose your civilian life to Hawkmoth. Frankly, you also do not know who you can trust because you don’t know if Hawkmoth has another partner besides Mayura. I advise that, if your partner does not know, you keep this from him as well for the time being. I don’t know him well enough, but he may betray you in the future.”

“You're wrong! Chat could never betray me!” Ladybug was so upset by the implication that she almost left right then and there but Nightwing stopped her before she could.

“Okay, this is why I’m here. To stop Batman from ruining everything. Again.I’m sorry, he’s bad with words Ladybug. He doesn’t mean to say that Chat will betray you, or that Chat will do it willingly. We saw videos from the Ladyblog, there have been instances where he falls under the akumas influence. There were the incidents with Princess Fragrance, Despair Bear, Malediktator and that was just from the fights there was footage from. There may have been more instances.”

“We understand that in many of these cases, he may have been protecting you, he seems to do that a lot, but that also exposes him more. Between the two of you, he is more likely to fall under the influence of the Akuma and him knowing your identity, or the identity of any of the superheroes puts them at risk. So, we do not want him to know too much information.”

“This is also the reason why we have decided that, if Chat Noir is to receive training, he will have to learn from you, either between battles or during any patrols you two have. Although, he does seem to have adequate skills in fencing, karate, and kung fu, so it will most likely be unnecessary. You, on the other hand, rely too much on reflex and your instincts. In a real fight, with someone who knows how to fight, you would lose.” Batman explained.

“On to the rules. I have purchased a residence for Nightwing and Zatanna to live in and for you to train in. I will send you the address and schedule if you have any problems with any of the times let us know tomorrow.”

“You bought a whole place? In Paris? Just for training me? We could have met up on the rooftops or gone to the watchtower.”

“Training in public would alert Hawkmoth to what we are doing, we have a greater advantage the less information we give him. As for the watchtower, you do not have clearance, last time was an exception due to an emergency. This place will be away from prying eyes and help protect your identity as well as mine. Which brings up the first rule, do not come in your Ladybug costume. You are very adept at moving around the city and avoiding people when you need to but that is almost always in crisis situations. If people catch you leaving this address as Ladybug, this will place suspicion on me and leave the place open for attack. That being said, your identity still needs to remain hidden, so you should consider making a mask to wear as a civilian and wearing a hoodie to hide identity when coming to and from training.”

“Ok. I can do that. Anything else?”

“You have the other miraculouses, correct?” At a nod from Ladybug, he continued. “We, the Justice League and I, would like you to store the remaining miraculouses at the residence you will be training at. I am not fully aware of your situation but, my building will have greater security and very few people will be entering, so the chance of someone stumbling across them or a regular burglar breaking in are very slim.”

Marinette thought about how energetic Alya’s younger sisters got and how her parents showed up in her room unexpectedly. She also thought about how the kwamis will be cooped up in the box all of the time. “I’ll accept this, but I am in charge of the miraculouses so, I still have the right to take any miraculous out of the box and have full control of who can or cannot wield a miraculous.”

“That’s fine”

“Anything else?”

“No, that’s all for now. Report tomorrow, around 5 o’clock to the address. I'll be testing you to further understand what your skills are currently like. Zatanna will begin your lessons in magic. That’s all” With that the two heroes shot out their grappling hooks and swung away and Zatanna followed after them. Meanwhile, Ladybug threw her yo-yo and swung away in the opposite direction, headed home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do realize a lot of the logic here is simply to keep things going for the plot. Like, there probably isn't really a reason why they decided Adrien can't join the training but, considering his busy civilian life, it's doubtful he would be able to get away from his father enough anyway.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette's first day of training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To make up for the heavy exposition in the last chapter, here is another one. []~(￣▽￣)~*

So this is the house she thought. No, not a house, a mansion. It was roughly the size of the Agreste Mansion and in an urban area like Paris, that had to be expensive.

‘Official superheroes are really different’, Mari thought. Besides its giant size, the mansion was intimidating for a variety of factors. Unlike the majority of buildings in Paris, this one was dark, not black but a navy blue house, something that gave off a feeling of the night sky. Otherwise, it was very simple in design, wood paneling, paved entryway. The only other distinct feature of the house, and an intimidating one at that, was a big stained glass window at the front, where the foyer would be. The window depicted an image of a gargoyle, something you wouldn’t find on even the most gothic of architecture in all of Paris.

Definitely intimidating, but Marinette was committed to going in, it was her first day of training. Putting on her mask she walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. A man wearing a domino mask answered, and judging by his build, she guessed he was Nightwing. 

“Ladybug, right? Come in, Batman is just finishing up setting everything up for your first day of training.

Marinette walked into the mansion, and like the exterior of the, it was dark and simple. Not too many personal items out, just the necessary furniture and whatever items came with the house. Nightwing led her to a room just off of the main foyer where several sparring mats covered the ground and a few chairs set up against the wall, other than that, the room was entirely bare. A man who could only be Batman was standing to one side while Zatanna stood off to the other side of the room.

“Because this is your first day of training we will begin by assessing your current martial arts ability and then Zatanna will begin discussing your particular branch of magic, the miraculouses ” Batman explained. “It would be preferable if you trained outside of your magical transformation since these skills can be of benefit to you outside of the mask as well as during. Nightwing will be your sparring partner for the day. Let’s begin.”

And thus it started. Marinette knew she didn’t have any formal training but also knew that the past year, fighting as Ladybug meant that she developed quicker reflexes and better agility. It wasn’t nearly enough against a skilled opponent. Nightwing won every single match and practically did it in less than 3 minutes. All she could do was dodge the best she could.

When Batman finally called a stop she was sweating and tired and slightly bruised. “Your abilities are roughly where I expected you to be at the moment,” Batman commented. “Your basic physical abilities are higher than most, having developed them during your tenure as Ladybug but you lack much else. It’s a good foundation to build on but we will have to decide on what exactly to teach you.”

“You hesitated to attack me” Nightwing put in. “Even though you spent a lot of time dodging, there were a few moments where I backed off long enough for you to attack back but, you never took the opportunity. It’s not a bad thing,” Nightwing reassured when he saw Marinette looking down-trodden, “It just means that you’re more of a defensive and evasive fighter. We should focus on a couple of martial arts that will suit this style.”

“Tai Chi would be good for redirecting attacks.” Batman started. “Judo would be good for incapacitating opponents, and with some of the more normal-sized akumas, such as Refleckta or Evillustrator, this could come in handy. Lastly, based on the weapon you use and the situations you fight in, it seems to be a good idea to train you in some acrobats. Do you have any questions Ladybug?” 

She didn’t know where to start. All she could think about was how she barely managed to hang on in any of these fights. How, without her miraculous, she couldn’t do anything. “Um… no” she said, furrowing her eyebrows. “I don’t think I have any questions at the moment.”

“Okay then. Zatanna, it’s your turn.”  
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
Unfortunately for both Zatanna and Marinette, there was little record of the miraculouses or their magic. Most records were apparently held at the temple of the miraculouses and the only information that the two of them shared was a copy of the Grimoire photos that Master Fu had partially translated.

“It looks like the majority of the book are potions,” Zatanna commented. “Besides being written in a secret language rooted in Mandarin Chinese, the potions are also recorded as a riddle.” 

“That’s right,” Marinette confirmed. “When making the potions that specialized the Kwami’s powers. For instance ‘A branch from the dragon king’s garden’ is seaweed. Some things however are not riddles, a tear of joy is a literal tear of joy. Based on my understanding, Master Fu experimented with most of the ingredients instead of deciphering the riddles.”

“It seems dangerous to just start mixing things that could be and it’s not exactly helpful unless we have a sample of the original to compare. We should get started deciphering first then.”

“In that case, I’ll send you my notes. I’ve been working on the rest of the translations in my free time, so the grimoire is almost completely translated into French and I have begun on solving the riddles.”

“You seem to have a grasp on most of the Miraculous magic already, huh. There isn’t much we can do beyond the grimoire since there is such little information about the miraculouses. However, it seems that now my lesson plans are completely gone, we can start something new. Perhaps it is your affinity with creation or the introduction to magic into your life, but you have a great aptitude for magic, so, if you’re willing to learn, I can start teaching you some of the tricks I have up my sleeve.”

The idea of learning more magic excited Marinette. But, she didn’t want to stray too far from the Miraculous magic. Too much focus on multiple things would only lead to her learning everything part way and mastering nothing. “For now, let's explore the powers of the Miraculouses, and once we're done we can move on.”

Zatanna smiled at her, “Sounds like a plan.”

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
On her way home, Marinette saw Luka a little bit farther down the sidewalk from her. She noticed him at the same time he noticed her. 

“Hey, Marinette. Are you headed back home?”

“Oh! Uh, hey Luka. Um… yeah, I just finished something, so I was just heading home. Still got all of those homework assignments to do, ha ha…” she awkwardly joked.

“Are you okay Marinette?”

“What? Of course, I am. I just had a pretty long day today."

“Marinette.” Luka starts. “I know that isn’t the reason. You’ve been acting weird for a while now. I just want to help you, you know you can tell me anything.” But that wasn’t true. She couldn’t tell him what was really bothering her. He couldn’t know that she was responsible for saving Paris or that it was her duty to stop a megalomaniac manic from making a reality-altering wish. And even if she did, how would he be able to help her with anything. She didn’t want to tell him why she was feeling down.

“It’s nothing, Luka. It’s fine, everything is under control. I just need some time and then everything will get better.” 

“Are you sure?” he questioned again. “If you can’t tell me, at least tell me that you’re going to be alright. It’s nothing illegal or dangerous is it?”

Dangerous, what an understatement. “I promise you, Luka, nothing dangerous at all”, more like fatal, she thought. “And I could never do something illegal. You don’t have to worry about me.” It’s my job to worry about you and everyone else.

“Well… at least let me walk you back home. It’s getting late and there are more threats in Paris than just akumas.”

Marinette paused for a moment and then she met Luka’s eyes. “Okay. You’re right. It’s getting pretty late. Let’s go” she said.

So, Luka walking next to Marinette, with his guitar strapped over his back, started walking toward the Dupain-Cheng bakery, stealing concerned glances at the pigtailed girl. Marinette just looked forward, thinking of all of the other problems Paris was facing and how she should help.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How well do our heroes face their opponents now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually very excited about this chapter, which is why it's getting uploaded now instead of later. The akumatization is pretty obviously based on the idea of Princess Justice, but... it's not Marinette so, Lady Law it is! Let me know if the action scenes are too confusing so, if it's a problem, I can fix it in future chapters.

It’s been a couple of weeks since Marinette began her training with the bats. Batman had left after the second day and so it was just Zatanna and Nightwing while Batman occasionally checked in to see her progress.

Nightwing was a great teacher. He was patient when she messed up and took any opportunity to make jokes. He was like an older brother that Marinette never had. Still, what little time Marinette had to relax was effectively taken up by training. She barely had enough time to sleep, much less design, or hang out with friends, not that she had been hanging out with anyone recently anyway.

At today’s training session, Nightwing had told her that she was going to meet another one of Batman’s partners. He told her that it was because they wanted her to gain experience from a variety of people. After all, each of the Robins had a unique way of fighting and they were sure she would benefit from multiple teachers.

Before her new teacher could be introduced though, screams began to fill the air outside on the streets of Paris, another Akuma had arrived, and chances were, another amok. So, quickly transforming and heading out, Ladybug went to scout out the Akuma, Chat Noir landing right beside her.

It was a girl, wearing a dress with a long princess style skirt and a toga-like top. She carried a sword in one hand and a set of scales in the other. They saw as the Akuma passed by the people not quick enough to run away, that she seemed to pull something out of each person, it looked like a flame. And then the Akuma would place the flame on one side of the scale. The first time the Akuma did this the scale with the flame tilted upward and the Akuma pocketed the flame in a pouch and left, the victim seemingly unharmed. The second time, the scale tilted downward and the person promptly turned to stone. 

At first, it appeared that Ladybug and Chat Noir were lucky, there wasn’t an amok insight. But, just before they jumped in to fight the Akuma, a giant lion, the size of a car, appeared. He was holding a person by the collar of their shirt and was bringing said person over to the Akuma. 

“You tried to cheat! Attempted to pin the blame on others and walk away from the consequences of your wrongdoings!” the Akuma accused the girl that the lion had set down. “As Lady Law, I will have you face justice as you deserve!” Saying this, the Akuma, Lady Law pulled out a flame, this one murky in color and brightness, and began to weigh it on the scale. Everyone who was looking at the scene already knew which way the scale would turn.

When the duo found an opening they attacked. Ladybug against Lady Law and Chat Noir keeping the Lion occupied. When Ladybug and Lady Law faced off, the Akuma attempted to do what she had done to the rest of her victims, so reaching out, she tried to pull the flame out of Ladybug’s body. But, taking a solid stance, Ladybug redirected the Akuma’s hand away from her and, when Lady Law was slightly off-balance, Ladybug pulled the Akuma forward.

Lady Law stumbled a bit before quickly regaining her balance and took a swing at Ladybug with her sword. Knowing not to let Ladybug get too close at the moment, the Akuma slashed at Ladybug, trying to injure the heroine before judging her soul. Unfortunately, Ladybug had no counter against this sword. Her yo-yo could become a shield against projectiles but was pretty ineffective against a sword being slashed at her. All she could do was dodge as best she could.

At one point Ladybug tried to call her Lucky Charm but, there was no opening to do so at the moment. It was time to switch to a different tactic. “Chat Noir, I need you to switch opponents with me. Your baton will match against her sword better than my yo-yo. And, if I remember the Darkblade incident correctly, you’ve got a lot of skill with swordplay. I’ll take on the amok, just don’t let Lady Law get too close to you. Ok?” She asked Chat, a bit out of breath from all the dodging.

“I’m on it LB!” with that Chat Noir vaulted away from the lion with his pole and engaged with the Akuma. At the same time, Ladybug wrapped her yo-yo around the legs of the lion, incapacitating him as well and gaining momentum away from her current fight.

Calling her yo-yo back, Ladybug called her lucky charm. A plan forming in her mind when she saw the shovel that fell into her hands.

Launching the shovel with all her might, it stuck itself into the ground a few feet to the left of the lion. Wrapping her yo-yo securely around a lamppost opposite of the shovel, Ladybug dodged an attack from the lion, sliding down and underneath a haphazardly abandoned bus. Coming out from underneath the bus she skillfully leaped over the bus, making her way around the lion again until she got to the shovel. Securing her yo-yo around the shovel she headed back towards the lamppost. 

Going around the post once more, she headed back to the bus, this time racing around the front of the bus until she got to the place where her yo-yo connected the shovel to the bus. Leaping over the wire, she headed back to the lamppost, going over the bus once she made another pass around the post. Coming out from underneath the vehicle, she weaved her way around the lion’s attacks and going beneath the lion, she made her way back to where the yo-yo connected the shovel to the lamppost.

Going underneath the wire, she was nearly done with her plan. After leaping on top of the building next to the bus, she pulled on the string of her yo-yo. The shovel freed itself from the ground, not secured enough in the ground to be able to stay where Ladybug had put it. But, when the shovel was no longer secure, the rest of the wire that encaged the lion, pulled taunt and the lion, trapped in the poor makeshift cage was suddenly entangled in the wire, caught between the bus and the lamppost and unable to move much less attack.

Meanwhile, Chat Noir was fencing with Lady Law, holding his own but unable to finish off his opponent as he had no idea where the Akuma could be hiding. When he saw Ladybug defeat the lion, pulling off a small charm that was around the lion’s neck he knew that it was time to put an end to the fight. Blocking the overhead swing of Lady Law’s sword, he angled his baton downwards, causing the sword to slide down, embedding itself into the ground. 

Before Lady Law could move, however, Chat Noir moved first. Grabbing the Akuma’s right shoulder, he stepped slightly to the left and forward before bringing his right leg around and hooking it behind the Akuma’s left leg. Making her unstable, he followed through with the rest of the motion, twisting the Akuma around and pushing her down on her back, quickly incapacitating her.

Ladybug came over and quickly found the akumatized object, the scales that Lady Law had been using to judge others. Breaking the scale, at the same time breaking the amokitized object, the charm, she purified both, releasing the victim from Hawkmoth. The scale had turned into a broken chain probably meant to hold the locket that was previously the charm from the amok. 

After casting her cure, she turned to Chat. “Good job Chat! That last move you did, it was something I showed you last week, right? The judo flip? I’m impressed you mastered it so quickly.”

“Thanks, LB and yeah. I tend to have a lot of time on my own at home, so I practiced what I could. It looks like those lessons are starting to pay off right? I’m actually really glad we’ve been finding time during patrols to go over it all.” he acknowledged. 

Ladybug’s miraculous began to beep then. She only had a minute to find somewhere to de-transform. Looking at Chat Noir, she held up her fist. “Pound it?”

Chat Noir smiled at her, “Pound it, LB.” Then Ladybug left before she ran out of time, de-transforming a few blocks away from the Bats’ mansion. 

Upon entering the mansion once again that day, she saw someone new waiting with Nightwing and Zatanna in the foyer. A man who looked like he was in serious need of a nap, or a coffee.

“Welcome back Ladybug, good job on handling the situation.” Nightwing congratulated. Ladybug just stared at him, waiting for him to continue. Nightwing cleared his throat. “This is Red Robin.”

“Hello, Ladybug.” Red Robin greeted.

Marinette couldn’t help herself though when she saw the man. “Wow. You look more sleep-deprived than me when I spend three nights working on a new project.”

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
Bonus Headcanon: Lady Law’s akumatization

Alethea was at school like normal, except that day the locket she always wore could be seen. Normally it was hidden underneath her shirt, only that day, for no special reason, it was visible to anyone who saw her. 

One person who saw it looked at it with envy. The locket was, after all, a fairly expensive piece of jewelry, with a Sapphire embedded in it. But it wasn’t the price of the locket that Alethea loved about the locket, it was what the locket meant to her, who it represented.

Edith, Alethea’s classmate, didn’t know about any of it. All she knew was that the locket was pretty and would go great with the outfit she bought recently. So, Edith went up to Althea before class had started and asked at what price Alethea was willing to sell the locket for. 

But a memento of her mother was priceless, so Alethea said “Nothing. It’s not for sale because there is no amount you could give me to make me give away my locket.”

Later that day, after Alethea had finished up her fencing class, Alethea went to change out of the uniform and noticed the locket missing. The locket she had taken off during practice to avoid it getting damaged or in the way. Knowing exactly who was behind this incident because only one person had asked about the locket, Alethea rushed to find Edith.

And there the girl sat in the classroom. Wearing the locket as if it was her’s all along like she didn’t just steal someone else’s property.

“Give it back,” she demanded, holding her hand out for the locket.

“Give back what? You aren’t suggesting that this locket I’m wearing is yours right? It was… an early birthday present from my father,” Edith quickly lied.

Not willing to deal with all of the BS for too long, Alethea simply grabbed the locket around Edith’s neck and pulled. Snapping the chain that the locket was on but, getting the most important thing back.

Edith screeched. “How dare you! Mr. Calcias! Alethea is trying to take my personal belongings from me!”

The tired teacher woke up from his short nap at the young girl's hysteria. “Huh? Oh, um, Edith, return whatever you stole from Edith and then go to the Principal’s office.”

“What!? But I didn’t do anything, she stole from me, I was just trying to take it back.”

However, Mr. Calcias wasn’t listening, he waved her off, pointed at the door, clearly telling her to go to the Principal’s office, and then went back to his nap. The man had been up until 4 am that morning, kept awake from a combination of anxiety and a pile of work due soon.

It wasn’t long before Mr.Calcias’ nap was interrupted. This time, by the roar of a giant lion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I drew the image I had of Lady Law (sorry it's in Black and white, and pencil.) I don't do digital art and generally, coloring makes the picture worse in my case but here it is. https://dramatic-squirrel.tumblr.com/post/625060107381817344  
> Also, feel free to take the concept and run with it if you like, I personally like Lady Law/ Alethea so, i'd be even happier if other people liked her too.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette talks to Nightwing about her problems. Sort of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to apologize for this chapter. It's short, the writing is pretty bad and it's not interesting. But it has to be written and I promised to update at least once a week and I have hit my time limit. I promise to upload the next chapter by Saturday though to make up for it.

The next day of training Marinette was sparring with Red Robin while Nightwing observed from the side.

“Good job Ladybug,” he complimented her. “Your stances are solid and you’ve pretty much mastered the basics already. That’s no small feat considering all of the work you have to keep up with.”

Marinette just looked at him. “Um, yeah, thanks I guess.” she half-heartedly replied. “Any progress is good progress, right?” 

Her response bothered Nightwing. It felt like Ladybug didn’t really believe what he said. “Is everything alright Ladybug? You seem pretty down. Is something bothering you?” he asked, hoping to get some clue as to why she seemed to think so negatively about herself.

“Yeah, it’s fine, just a few things in my civilian life. Nothing to be worried about,” she replied.

“Uh-huh. And would these ‘few things’ be a recent development or something that you’ve been dealing with for a while?”

“They’re nothing. I’m handling it. It’s fine how it is right now.”

“Ok, look Bug, I’m not exactly sure what it is you’re dealing with at the moment but, just because things seem fine at the moment doesn’t mean that they are ok. Things not getting worse doesn’t mean a problem is fixed and if you're dealing with something bad, then it would be a good idea to seek some help out. If you don’t want to confide in me then that’s fine but, what about your parents, or a teacher? Maybe they can help you.”

“Again, it is not a problem. The teachers don’t see it as a problem, my parents can’t do anything about it, so everything is fine.”

Nightwing paused at that, it seemed like a problem at school, a bully maybe, and that the teachers and/or principal weren’t enforcing the rules like they should have been. “You still have friends though, right? Without more details I can’t exactly offer the best advice but, having a friend to talk through your problems usually helps.”

Ladybug’s eyes shifted away from where they had been staring at him. She looked like she was thinking about something but in the end, didn’t say anything. “Okay, I get that, with being a superhero, it can be hard having friends who aren’t, you know, fellow superheroes. You might feel guilty about lying to them or they don’t accept that sometimes you can’t show up because you can’t explain the real reason why. It might be difficult, but I’d like to encourage you to try and talk to one of your classmates or former friends. Open up to them about your problem and if they don’t listen then, maybe they weren’t meant to be your friend. Relationships come and go, and you can’t be scared to start one just because you fear it might end.” Nightwing patted her shoulder. “I promise that you’ll feel better when you open up about your problem to someone you trust. Can you promise me that you will try to talk to someone from your civilian life?”

Ladybug looked at him, emotion almost completely absent from her bluebell eyes before she opened up and said “I make no promises. But… I’ll try. It’s just that my relationship with my friends has been a bit rocky since a new girl showed up. But, it’s not a big deal,” she quickly reassured, “I don’t have a lot of time at the moment anyway, what with all of my other responsibilities.”

“As long as you try, I’m proud of you.”

They ended training for the day and Marinette was left to consider what Nightwing told her. Tikki also knew what was on her mind.

“Nightwing’s right Marinette. You need to reconnect with your friends again. I know you're scared of them getting hurt or not trusting you because of Lila but, I promise that your friends are better than that. They can take care of themselves and they aren’t so gullible as to believe everything Lila says.”

“You’re right Tikki, I just… it’s just… difficult to talk to any of them at the moment. Maybe I- we can try soon?”

“Of course Marinette, I know you’ll get there eventually, take at your own pace, just make sure to try and talk to someone.”

“Ok, Tikki.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One last apology to anyone hoping for Tim Drake/ Red Robin and Marinette/ Ladybug interactions. It's not gonna really happen for a variety of reasons, the most important of which being that I could stare at this story for ages but, I would have no idea how to write Tim Drake as a character. To me, he is the overwork, coffee addicted genius of the batfam but, I don't know how to write that.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette spends some time at the Art club again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, I give you the next chapter before Saturday (at least in my timezone). Now, enjoy ᕕ(╯°□°)ᕗ

The school bell rung, signaling the end of the day. Before Marinette could get out of her seat herself, Alix came up to her, pulling Marinette by one of her arms and dragging her towards a classroom.

“Alix! What are you doing?”

“We are going to go to the art club. If I asked you, you would just try and get out of it with an excuse. And don’t bother trying to say you’re busy right now, I asked your parents if you had anything you needed to do and they said no. Even said that they’d give you a break from chores this week so you have more time for hangin’ out with us without falling behind on your homework.”

Resigned to her fate with no legitimate excuse available, Marinette allowed herself to be dragged by Alix into the classroom used by the Art club. 

Sitting at a table near the window was Rose, Ivan, and Juleka, no doubt talking about their music for Kitty Section. And at a table near the back, where Alix was dragging her, sat Nathaniel and Marc, hunched over their “baby”.

“Hey, Marc, Nath. Look who I brought! Our resident sunshine girl and everyday Ladybug!” The comment made Marinette blush, and she only turned redder when everyone stopped to stare at her. 

“Hey Marinette,” Nathaniel greeted her with a smile. “It’s been a while. Mr. Dessin has been complaining about how dreary the place has gotten since you stopped showing up. How’s your designing going?” 

She had to pause at that, she wasn’t sure what to say. I mean she knew what they expected her to say. They expected her to start gushing about all of the designs she came up with recently and the inspiration for each one and how she was planning on making it. But, it’s been a long time since she picked up her sketchbook and actually drew anything. Should she be somewhat truthful and say that she’s had a creative roadblock, or should she pretend like she’s been fine and act like she’s been busy with nonexistent commissions? Maybe she could start using that as an excuse for when she can’t or doesn’t want to hang out with anyone.

Apparently she took too long so, with a quiet mutual understanding between Alix, Marc, and Nathaniel, they moved on to a new topic. They started talking about the new public garden getting set up in the city which quickly moved on to a debate about how long it would take for Alix to add her own graffiti to the place.

Marinette just sat at the table, kind of awkwardly, because she wasn’t really involved in the conversation. Instead, she just sat there, half-listening to what the group of three were saying. As she found out not too long later however, she was not the only one apparently ignoring the debate going on.

Marc scooted closer to Marinette and asked if she wanted to read his latest story. He said that it was already finished, but he would be happy if she could read it anyway and offer her opinion. And with nothing better to do, she did. 

It was a completely different story compared to “The Diary of Ladybug”. This one was called “La Fortune des Hommes”. It wasn’t really about superheroes, all though they appeared in the book. It was more like an account of several people who had been saved by the heroes, their perspective of the fights, and how they, the vulnerable citizen, felt.

Marinette had only got through the first chapter when Alix called attention to her. “So, Mari, you never really told me what you thought about my offer. I know Alya hasn’t been the best deputy, what with her hangin’ around her new group of friends,” Alix said with a bit of distaste. No doubt bitter about how Max and Kim had left her for a new group of people. “Anyway, the offer still stands, I’ll help you out with your class president duties, it’s not like I have much else to do and I’d probably make my old man proud, becoming a pseudo leader and whatnot.”

But the question was, could Marinette trust Alix. Would she give up halfway like Alya did? Would she side with Lila on matters? There was one way to find out, Nightwing’s advice from the day before began echoing in her mind. 

“Hey, Alix… There’s something I want to talk to you about.” Alix paused what she was doing when Mari started speaking. “But before I tell you, I want you to listen till the end. Okay?”

“Sure Mari, what is it?”

“I need you to know…” Mari paused, “I need you to believe me when I say that Lila is lying. I don’t exactly have fool-proof evidence but… her lies, they just don’t make sense,” tears of frustration former at the corner of her eyes. “A napkin couldn’t possibly gouge out someone’s eye, especially when they’re wearing glasses, her tinnitus shouldn’t have been healed by Ladybug’s cure and most of all, there is no way she could be Ladybug’s best friend. The only one who should be able to claim the title of Ladybug’s best friend is Chat Noir, and anyone else who says it, is- is just lying to get attention!” She couldn’t help it, the days and weeks she spent, of Lila lying and getting away with it, her friends believing that liar. But, most of all, the fear that she wouldn’t be believed, that Alix would scoff at her and call her jealous or mean.

She couldn't look the other girl in the eyes as she continued. "A-and… I just want you to believe me when I say that Lila is just a liar and that she only wants to take advantage of you all,” her fist slammed against the table. She continued to look down until, all of a sudden, arms wrapped around her.

“Of course, I’ll believe you, Mari. I have to admit, I wasn’t really focused on what Lila has been saying all this time because I didn’t think it was important and because it didn’t really have anything to do with me but, I guess I should have been more aware. I’m sorry Mari,” Alix apologized.

Hearing that someone else believed in her, in a way that Alya and Nino never had, was indescribable to Marinette. The relief swept through her like a tidal wave and the tears she had holding back began to fall. It couldn’t be stopped and soon, even the members of Kitty Section noticed.

Meanwhile, Alix side hugged Marinette as the girl tried to hide the tears behind her hands. Marc and Nathaniel, who had heard the conversation as a result of being at the table patted her on the back, offering their silent support for her.

This time, no Akuma was coming for a crying girl in school. Because this time, there were no negative emotions. No tears of anger and frustration, no devastating sadness that turned her into a sobbing mess. Only the overwhelming relief that school might not be so lonely anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is no way you can convince me that all of Paris doesn't see Chat Noir and Ladybug as best friends. Even the shippers would see them as best friends. It's just a fact of life.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, I'm making really slow progress on this story. I'd better pick up the pace if I want to finish before classes start up again（；^ω^）

“Pound it, partner?” she asked

“Pound it,” Chat Noir fist-bumped the heroine in red. 

But, before the duo could rush off to de-transform a man appeared beside them. He had a shaved head and was wearing a red Zhiduo. He did not give them a chance to move before he spoke. “Holders of the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses, The Order of the Guardians would like to speak with you. It would be of great convenience if you could come back to the rooftop as soon as possible when you re-transform.”

Not having a more pressing matter at the moment, both Chat Noir and Ladybug agreed to come back in 10 minutes and so they did, quickly they asked the question that was gnawing at them. “Why is The Order of the Guardians here?” It was Chat Noir who spoke first.

“After being revived, The Guardians had learned about what was happening in the world. We are still adjusting to the changes in the modern world but, as soon as we had heard of the situation with the Miraculouses in Paris, I was sent to learn more.”

“Does that mean… there is a chance you’ll take our miraculouses and give them to someone in the order? Someone with more experience than us?” Ladybug spoke up this time.

“No, after observing you both it seems as though- It was Apprentice Fu who gave you the miraculouses yes?” at their nod he continued. “Apprentice Fu made a wise decision. He found candidates that not only complimented the miraculouses, he even managed to find new wielders that are just young enough to have time to develop. In fact, you may be a bit older than the wielders normally are when chosen but, I suppose it was pressing circumstances at the time.” The last comment was mumbled and almost seemed like he was talking to himself. However, both heroes heard him and they were honestly shocked.

“What do you mean we’re a bit older than most normal wielders?”

“I’m not quite sure what the customs are in this modern era but, The Order prefers to give the miraculouses to a wielder when they are younger, preferably around 10-14 years old. Your circumstances are more unusual than normal as, when you are chosen you are normally trained first. Regardless though, we at The Order prefer to start everything at an early age. For wielders of the miraculouses, it gives them the time to form life-long bonds with their kwami’s making a partnership that is stronger than the best steel. For guardians, it gives them the time to learn everything they need to know. And most of all, we choose our members when they are young before they begin walking down a different path. There is no room in The Order for members with a conflict of interest, it is a life-long journey.”

“Dude… That’s just messed up,” Chat Noir couldn’t hide his disbelief and horror at the knowledge. Ladybug wasn’t even able to speak properly at such a revelation. It sounded like The Order was a cult that took impressionable young children into their ranks and brainwashed them into staying and devoting their all to The Order.

“Well, enough about tradition. It is a great honor to meet both the Black Cat and Ladybug heroes of Paris but, we really should have Apprentice Fu here with us as well. Where is he?”

That took Ladybug out of her stupor. “Master Fu is gone,” she said. “He became compromised and had to give up his right to guardianship of the miraculouses, losing his memories in the process. If you need to speak to the guardian of the box of miracles, that would currently be me,” she spoke in her most confident tone but, it still felt like nothing in front of the man who looked at her with disbelief in his eyes.

“But, you don’t have the proper training. Not to mention you hold one of the most powerful miraculouses in existence. Fu should have never passed this responsibility on to you.”

It was condescending. She may not have had the formal training the rest of The Order likely had but, she was managing just fine. And it’s not like she asked for this responsibility anyways.

Are you the only one named as the guardian?” he continued. When she nodded her head he began to look even paler. “Fu, that moron. He may not have had a choice and had to be a guardian alone but, it is even worse that he only named one person the holder.”

“Worse!? Worse how? What was he supposed to do,” she asked, trying to tamp down the hysteria that was growing because of some unknown threat this stranger monk was implying.

“Normally each miraculous box is in the care of a group of guardians. No one guardian holds all of the power over a box. Fu was an exception as he was the only one to escape the temple. The reason why we do this is to prevent complete amnesia when the box is handed down to the next group. As you have probably seen with Fu, passing on the Guardianship tampers with the mind. Fu lost all his memories but, when multiple people are guardians, the effect is spread out and less severe. Instead of complete amnesia, our ability to make new memories is weakened and the memories we do have are more likely to fade but, not necessarily disappear all at once. I’m sorry Ladybug but, I will have to return to the monastery and confer with the other monks. This situation is more serious than we first believed.”

And he left just like that. In all honesty, everything the monk said and did, created more problems and he didn’t even offer any solutions. He basically came here to exposition dump and create drama but, the heroes didn’t have a chance to stop the man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is an unfinished storyline. I have a general idea about how I'd want the conflict to play out but, I'm not interested in delving into this idea in this story. It serves another purpose that will become clear next chapter. And maybe, one day, I'll create a sequel to this story and tie up this loose end but, this is the last we'll see of the Guardians in this story.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to all Lukanette shippers there is no room for a Lukanette ship in my fanfic.

Marinette was spending some time in the park thinking about what had happened yesterday. A Guardian had spoken with them. A GUARDIAN. Sure, she remembers how they came back after the Miraculous Cure when they defeated Feast, but she had kind of forgotten them until one of them came to visit. 

And what was she going to do! They were going to take the Kwamis away, he said it himself. Being the wielder of the Ladybug miraculous and the guardian of the miracle box was too much power in one person’s hand. What if they took Tikki away from her and made her move all the way out to Tibet to live in isolation from the rest of the world? What if they made her shave her head and go 24 hours without eating while guarding the miracle box?

“Tikki! What am I going to Do!?” not even bothering to hide the hysteria in her voice. Her life may as well be over if they take Tikki or worse! What if they take all of the Kw-

“Marinette! Calm down. I know that meeting the Guardian must have freaked you out but, it will be okay. They aren’t needlessly cruel and the monk we met with seemed satisfied that you were chosen to be Ladybug. I’m certain we will stay together.” Tikki comforted her.

“Yeah, your right… I just can’t help but worry. Maybe they’ll try to take the miracle box away but won’t be able to find another way without wiping out my memory. Or maybe they find out over time that I’m not worthy of being Ladybug. It’s just another thing to worry about, and just after I managed to find someone who believed me about Lila. Ugh~ I don’t know what to think anymore.”

Before Tikki or another kwami could respond a new voice spoke first. “Marinette? Are you alright? You seem to be upset about something.” It was Luka. Luka who was sweet and caring and not someone who would understand all of the things she had to go through.

“Uh, hey Luka. Everything’s fine, why do you ask?”

“Well, you were pacing back and forth and seemed to be talking to yourself. Your melody is also more discordant than it was last time we met.”

“It’s not really something I can talk about,” she tried to deflect but, he looked at her with determination, he knew she was troubled and this time he wasn’t going to let the issue be.

“Mari, I know that sometimes it’s easier not to talk about things, Juleka is like that a lot but, you need to open up about your problems. The people around you care for you and just want to help. Please, tell me what’s wrong, I promise I’ll listen.”

“Luka! I don’t want to talk about it, I can’t okay? Please. Let it go.”

“I’m just concerned for you Mari, ever since The Miracle Queen incident, you seem to be having a difficult time and I just want to be there for you.”

“You can’t be there for me!” And for the second time that week, she started crying. She looked at him, regret on her face, “I’m sorry but, I think I need to go calm down before I attract an akuma.”

“Marinette! Wait!” But she turned around and ran. Orikko, Barkk, and Tikki tried to get her attention but she wasn’t listening to them. Her mind was focused on getting away, to get somewhere where she could cry and, without Kaalki, she needed to find that place in the city. The only place she could think of was the mansion. Nightwing and Zatanna might ask questions but she could claim it was a civilian problem and hopefully, they would stop.

Pulling her mask out of the bag and pulling up the hood of the hoodie she almost constantly wore nowadays, she made her way through the streets, left with her own thoughts.

She knows she hurt Luka, that she failed again because she couldn’t open up to him. Luka has been compromised, Hawkmoth knows he’s Viperion, what if he’s watching the former heroes? What if he’s keeping track of who works with them? But she can’t cut out all of them from her life. Alya, Nino, Max, Kim, and Kagami all left her. The only one who's stayed with her up till now is Luka and she can’t lose him too but, she might. Now she might. Especially since she just hurt him, and made it seem like she doesn’t value his concern.

And she regrets it so much, regrets that she can't tell him anything but she can’t regret what she did.

She made her way into the Bat’s mansion and it looked like Nightwing and Zatanna were gone, which wasn’t that weird since they weren’t scheduled to train today and it was a relief to find no one there.

Going into the training room, she sat down on the floor, leaning against one of the walls and let herself just leave. She couldn’t take the time to think, couldn’t risk the emotions that came with it. She couldn’t fake a happy expression or be around other people. She just needed some time to go blank, stop thinking, and vacantly stare at the floor until she could compose herself.

Her time alone didn’t last too long, about five minutes later someone walked into the room, a man wearing a brown leather jacket, a domino mask, and a white tuft of hair. He looked about as shocked to see her there and she was to see him. Who was this stranger? One of the Bat’s? He must be, who else would he be.

“Hey, are you the kid that B’s been ‘training’ recently? Or did you just break into this place?”

She didn’t confirm or deny it, “Are you supposed to be here?”

“Can’t say I’m supposed to be here. B told me to ‘stay out of Paris until the whole situation is dealt with. We don’t need you getting akumatized and compromising everything.’ But… I wanted to see what the old man was doing and if I could save some kid from becoming another one of his ‘partners’. I’m guessing you’re the Parisian superhero, Ladybug, who Nightwing has taken to training, right?”

“Yeah… and you still haven’t told me who you are.”

“Red hood. Asshole extraordinaire and the resident zombie of Gotham. Now, has Nightwing taught you how to pick a lock yet, or do I get the chance?”

“Why would I need to know how to pick a lock?”

“I’ll take that as a no. Picking locks is important in case you get kidnapped and need to get free or if you find evidence behind a locked door and need to get in. You can also use your new-found skills to set up some pranks against anyone who bothers you. I do it all the time with Demon Spawn. Almost gets me skewered every time but, it’s always worth it.”

“I guess it could be useful,” she hesitated, “Do we get started now? I don’t have a lot of time but I could spare an hour? I think.”

“Sure Pixie. As long as you're feeling better now, we can start. We can even practice on the lock in the pantry where Boy Scout is stashing the Oreo’s. Won’t take more than 30 minutes.”

She realized what he was doing. He came in, saw her in a catatonic state, and instead of trying to get her to talk about her problems, he made her think about something else. It might not have been the healthiest way to cope with her problems, but it was what she needed at that moment.

She gave him a slight smile. “Yeah, let's go steal some Oreos.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I just fangirl over the headcanons for platonic Jasonette. My God, I just love it when the two act like siblings. ヾ(≧▽≦*)o


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Jason and Marinette interactions, an annoyed Dick Grayson and a new outfit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!Forwarning!!! There is a bit of swearing here, it has Jason Todd in it, practically a requirement.  
> And one more chapter till Damian is introduced!

The next day, when Marinette showed up for her scheduled training, she saw that man who introduced himself as Jay between her two mentors. Nightwing looking miffed and Zatanna seemed annoyed.

“Ladybug,” Nightwing began, “this is one of Batman’s… partners. This is Red Hood”

“No need for the introduction, Boy Scout. Pixie and I met yesterday.”

“What?” Apparently, Jay hadn’t told Nightwing about how he found her yesterday staring blankly at the wall.

“Red Hood, perhaps that’s something you could have told us beforehand,” Zatanna berated. “Batman and Ladybug set up rules regarding secret identities for the duration of the training or until Hawkmoth is defeated.”

“Don’t worry so much, I didn’t give away my civilian name, she didn’t give me hers. I only taught her how to pick locks.”

“Hood! What are you doing! You’re corrupting this poor innocent soul,” Nightwing lamented. “You’re going to turn her into a semi-criminal hero and then Batman’s’ going to blame me. Or worse, kick you out of the family again.”

“Again, relax~,” his easy-going manner at complete odds with Nightwing’s slight panicking. “We just swiped some of the Oreos you had, nothing criminal.”

“That was you. You said you didn’t do it” Nightwing lunged at Jay but, Jay managed to dodge away leaving Zatanna in the way of Nightwing’s fury. Luckily, she managed to sidestep as well, causing Nightwing to fall on the floor.

Marinette watched all of this with amusement. Despite acting upset, she could tell Nightwing wasn’t really mad at Jay. It seemed more like an argument between siblings. Like when Chris took something of Nino’s without asking.

Nightwing picked himself off the floor, dusted himself off, and, after sending a glare towards a chill Red Hood, turned to look back at her.

“Okay, since you already know each I guess we’ll get started with training. Red Hood wasn’t supposed to come to Paris so he’ll just be observing. Let’s start with a sparring session to see how well you remember the moves we’ve gone over so far.”

Marinette moved to one side of the training mat while Nightwing moved to the other side. He attacked first. Throwing a punch to the left side of her face. She threw her arm up, blocking the punch with her forearm and sinking into a lower stance, just the right position for her to palm strike his abdomen. 

Nightwing braced for the blow, however, it managed to move him just far enough away from her that she could hook her right leg behind his left leg and, while pulling her leg back, she pushed against his right shoulder, throwing his balance off and knocking him to the ground.

“Damn, Nightwing, looks like you’ve lost your skill. Must have run away when you started wearing that Discowing abomination.” 

“Shut up Hood. It was a perfectly fine costume and no one else mentioned any problems with it.”

“Excuse me Nightwing,” Marinette spoke up.

“Yeah?”

“I’ve seen photos of that suit and with all due respect, it deserves to be burned in the fires of Hell. Just because no one wanted to hurt your feelings about it, does not mean that that suit was anything but a disgrace to the name of fashion,” she deadpanned.

Nightwing lost all enthusiasm and anger at her comment while Jay just started howling at what she said. Even Zatanna, who was reading a book, cracked a smile at the line.

“Enough whining Nightwing, get on with the girl’s training. Do you plan on quitting after one loss? Or maybe this isn’t your first loss. You’ve been here a couple of months, right? Is she already better than you, the one with years of experience?”

“Why are you even here Jay? Did you seriously take an 8-hour plane trip just so you could make fun of me? We are here to learn not for sparring. It’s not about winning or losing.”

“Keep telling yourself that, as far as I see it, she’s got you on the ropes.”

Marinette could hear the exasperation in his sigh “Hood, either stop being an ass or help us.”

“You got it Boy Scout, I’ll help train Pixie here so you can nurse your bruised ego.”

Nightwing just rubbed the area between his eyebrows and walked away, not bothering to comment anymore. Jay took that as his opportunity to take over Ladybug’s training.

“Let’s get started! We’re gonna focus on your lack of offense. You’re too unsure of yourself. You hesitate to attack and when facing an opponent that isn’t an Akuma, you’re afraid to hurt them. B is obviously teaching you how to play on your strengths and preferences but, we’re gonna start learning to be more aggressive. Soon you’ll be so dangerous even Demon Spawn won’t be able to win.” He grinned at her.

Jay patted her shoulder but, before he knew it l, he was flat on his back. Ladybug had judo flipped him over her shoulder.

"Damn Pixie, what was that for?"

Smirking slightly she told him. "It seemed like you needed to be taken down a few pegs by someone with just a few months of training. 

“Touche”   
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
The training ended relatively soon. With Jay teaching her and saying things to infuriate Nightwing, the duty she had to do started to seem fun. It reminded her of how things were when she and Chat Noir had started out as heroes.

And for a couple of hours, hero work wasn’t as stressful as it usually was. It was a responsibility, sure. But a responsibility she was proud to have. And she resolved not to let it dictate her life. It might be impossible now, but for the first time in a long time, she wanted to design again. And while a full-fledged business and taking a lot of commissions might not be feasible at the moment, it didn’t mean that it wouldn’t be in the future. And she would find the time to do things she enjoyed, maybe finally rely on her friends again to lessen some of the load that was put on her.  
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
That night, when Marinette transformed to do patrol, she noticed that her costume changed. It was no longer the simple red and black polka-dotted leotard that she had previously worn. Now she had a new design. Across her chest and arms, she now had a black with a red polka-dotted pattern. On her feet, she had more armor-like boots and her hair had changed from her characteristic pig-tails to a hair bun on top of her head, held together by a single red ribbon.

Tikki once said that the costume she wore was a reflection of her true desires and aspirations, and it seemed like her appearance as Ladybug reflected her newfound determination to exactly what she wanted. Without her civilian life getting in the way of her hero life and vice versa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the suit redesign is largely based off of Zoe-oneesama's redesigned outfit for her Scarlet Lady Au. Here is the link. https://zoe-oneesama.tumblr.com/post/180018173929/we-need-to-see-how-marinette-would-change-the . She has a freaking fantastic Au and she is an amazing artist. I added a few elements of my own but, for the life of me, I can't draw it. Also, if you want an explanation as to why her new outfit reflects Marinette's new desires, I can definitely BS one to give you. Don't worry, I'm an English Major, this is basically what I've been taught to do.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick update on how the rest of this story update will go, I will continue to upload once a week, but not more than that, since I'm getting pretty busy with school work and work-work. As a result, I know I said I would respond to every comment but, that won't be the case anymore because of how busy it's getting, but I will still read them all!

Marinette’s alarm had woken her up at the ungodly hour of 5 am, because once again, Nightwing wanted to introduce another of Batman’s teammates. Why this couldn’t have waited until later… We’ll that probably had to do with the fact that she had three tests coming up that she needed to study for. She might be the fourth smartest student in the class, behind Max, Adrien, and Sabrina but that came with a lot of sweat and tears and studying.

For the next week, training was moved to the morning for a half-hour before she needed to leave to get ready for school. This way, the evening was free for studying and the occasional break to stop an Akuma attack and in the morning she could try to wake herself up with some exercise so that she could focus more in school. The last point was made by Nightwing who mother henned her about the whole situation, telling her how important her grades were.

She didn’t bother showering just yet as training was going to make her sweaty anyway. So, getting dressed in comfortable sportswear she made, putting her mask in her bag, and picking up Ziggy and Longg’s miraculouses she headed downstairs.

Her parents, who were already up, told her good morning and assumed that she was going out for a jog because that was the lie she told them. Well… it wasn’t a complete lie, she was going to run to the mansion to get in a warm-up.

After a few minutes of running, she finally made it to the mansion and knocked on the door. Nightwing opened the door with a smile.

“Hey Ladybug,” they entered the house. “This time, instead of a mentor, we invited Robin over as a sparring partner for you. We don’t know your exact age but, you seem to be around the same age range as Robin, and, seeing as he’s a master of most fighting styles, we figured you’d experience the greatest variety of fighting techniques with him.” This made Marinette very nervous all of a sudden. How was she supposed to hold her own against this guy then?

“Don’t worry Bug,” Zatanna came from the direction of the rooms. “I promise that before he can accidentally murder you I’ll stop him.” That statement did very little to reassure Marinette.

They entered the training room and there, in one of the few chairs that the room actually had, was a kid, about her age, sulking at his obvious reluctance at being there.  
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
To say he was reluctant to be in Paris was an understatement. The fact that he, an al-Ghul and a Wayne, would have to be the sparring partner of an amateur was insulting, to say the least. His time is better spent elsewhere but, his father told him that “as a hero, helping anyone is of value.” So, helping this French greenhorn was part of his “duty as a superhero”, but let's ignore the fact that they’re technically labeled as vigilantes.

He was still vexed by the whole situation when he noticed that Grayson and Zatara had entered the room with a third unfamiliar person, Ladybug. For a moment he forgot his anger when he saw her. She was absolutely stunning, even if she was dressed casually for exercise. The red of her outfit complemented her dark hair. Her blue eyes shone clearly and most strikingly was the way she carried herself. No one could ever accuse this girl of not caring about her responsibilities, you could see her carrying them on her shoulders as she walked. Like a Seraph, prepared to fight at a moment's notice for her beliefs.

Then he snapped out of it and remembered that he was pulled away from actual crime-fighting to be a babysitter. “-tt- You must be Ladybug. I hope you know what you are doing because I will not be going easy on you. Survive or die.”

“Don’t listen to Baby Bird, Little Bug, he’s just grumpy. Robin hasn’t killed anyone in years and he’s not about to break that streak now.” Despite Nightwing’s continued reassurances, the pained and slightly worried look on her face never completely left.

“Well let us get to it 'Ladybug.' Don’t expect to beat me but at least try to at least last 5 minutes.”  
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
'At least try to last 5 minutes.' He was clearly challenging her and if there is one thing that Marinette has ever picked up from Kim, it was to never back down from a challenge. Refusing to act immature she silently walked to one side of the training mat and took a solid stance, inviting Robin to fight.

Nightwing and Zatanna each took a seat to observe the fight. And then they began. 

The first one to move was Robin, impatient from the lack of movement from her, he swept at her feet with his legs. An unorthodox way to begin a fight but, she managed to respond in time, cartwheeling away, not trusting that he didn’t have a contingency for if she made the obvious move of jumping up to avoid the leg sweep.

And she was right in that he didn’t expect her to cartwheel away, so, taking advantage of his surprise, when she righted herself she jabbed at the pressure point between the neck and the shoulder. He turned before her hit landed and grabbing her arm pulled her forward, trying to knock her off balance. 

Not letting herself be outdone so early, she moved into a front hand flip, then getting back onto her feet, turning her front to face him again, prepared to block any follow-up attack. Which was lucky for her, because he attempted to roundhouse kick her but, her arms managed to block the kick.

In response to the kick, she grabbed his leg, and, like he tried to do moments before, she tried to get him off balance. She almost succeeded but he managed to do his own, much more complicated gymnastic move, to regain his balance. Robin was clearly getting annoyed by the fight already. If Ladybug had to guess, it was probably because the match had gone on longer than he anticipated. She knew he wasn’t yet fighting at his very best, and she doubted he would. She could tell that there would be some severe consequences if he harmed her beyond a few bruises, and she was going to take advantage of this fact because if he wasn’t going to fight at full strength that means that he had to focus on holding back.

It meant that he was less likely to pay attention to their surroundings and if Ladybug excelled at anything in fighting, it was her ability to improvise based on her surroundings. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much help in the way of the training room. The mats were properly placed and firmly on the ground, except for the chairs a few feet away there weren’t any objects. It was a barren room. But, she was Lady Luck and, more importantly, she was a designer. Her outfit may have been fairly simple as it was intended for sparring but, she could still take advantage of what she had on her.

When Robin made to punch her, she dodged to the side, and, with a tug, she set free a ribbon she had taken to wearing around her waist for one, fashion, and two, as a reminder to keep her posture up when sparring. The ribbon gently pressed against her back more than usual when she accidentally lost the proper posture in her lower back.

And so, she took the ribbon she was previously wearing and wrapping it around Robin’s outstretched arm, she twirled behind him. Pulling his arm back and, hooking one leg at the ankle of his back leg, pulled back, finally knocking him off balance. With one arm caught in the ribbon his movement was restricted and, although he tried to regain balance with one arm, his limited range of movement prevented him from getting back up. He fell down, face first.

“Looks like I lasted longer than 5 minutes, petit oiseau.” She gently teased. 

“It appears so. Next time I won’t hold back as much.”

“I wouldn’t expect any less. Just know that I learn more from every match, so don’t expect to win every single fight from now on.”

“-tt- Delude yourself into thinking that if it makes you feel better. Nightwing, I shall be leaving to get ready.”

“Oh, right. It is about time that we split up, isn’t it,” Nightwing realized. “Ladybug, you're free to go. And make sure to study for those tests, education is important.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was Robin meeting Ladybug, next chapter we'll see Damian meeting Marinette!


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin's already met Ladybug. How does Damian react to Marinette?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yùn Qi (运气)--Lucky, Fortune

After Ladybug had left, Damian had to get ready for school. The insistence from Grayson that he continue to try and act like a normal child was ridiculous. He was never a normal child and there was no reason he should try to be like one. Bad enough that he was forced to come to Paris, even worse that he was forced to go to College Francoise Dupont.

He couldn’t do anything about it, however, as Grayson threatened to have his pets sent to live with the Kents on their farm if he refused. 

After making his way to the junior high and getting his class schedule from the front office, he found his way to his homeroom and the classmates he’d be spending the foreseeable future with. His teacher’s name was Ms. Mendeleiev and thankfully the class was relatively small, meaning, fewer people he would have to glare at to avoid. 

Throughout the first half of the day, Damian was pleasantly surprised. While true that the class was still easy for him, he found the lessons to be more challenging than what was offered in Gotham. Not to mention, his classmates didn’t talk to him. One tried at first, a girl named Aurore but, she had been intimidated quickly and the rest followed after.  
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
He had finished eating lunch too soon. Damian had forgotten that schools in France gave their students a two-hour lunch. An absurd amount of time to eat but still, better than 30 minutes to finish eating before rushing off to one’s next class. Normally he’d spend the time observing his surroundings and the people present, but he became bored too quickly from that.

The school's hierarchy was simple. Lila Rossi and her “heroes gang” were at the top of the social food chain. The art students formed their own clique with only a few exceptions. Chloe Bourgeois was the outcast due to her previous actions. Then there was the theatre group, separate from the art group but, occasionally interacted, the group of athletics, mostly fencers as the school hosted a fencing class after school hours, and so on. A regular school if one ignored the number of temporary heroes that came from the school.

Damian had finished these observations before he even finished his lunch and there was absolutely nothing noteworthy about any of these people or anyone suspicious. He decided that at least he should do something productive so he took out his sketchbook to begin drawing. 

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
Marinette had been busy finalizing some commissions that she had managed to get. She had gathered her courage and took the first step into designing again. And not just designing but building her brand. It was insane that her first official commission was Jagged Stone. She would be designing for Jagged Stone! Again! This time it would be under her official alias as Yùn Qi! 

It was just unbelievable and she wished that she had someone to celebrate with but Alix was sick today, so it would have to be a mini party with her and the Kwami’s that were out today. That was until she saw a new kid sitting at one of the cafeteria tables all alone. 

No one deserves to be alone for long periods of time, she had the experience. She hesitated a bit before finally making a detour, heading towards the boy's table.

“Um, hey~” The boy glared at her, daring her to continue. “I saw you were here all alone, and since you seemed new here I was wondering if you might want a tour… or something.”

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
Damian continued to glare at the girl standing in front of him. But, for once, it wasn’t because he was trying to intimidate someone. At first, it was but then, he saw her and his glare was frozen in place by his shock. In front of him stood an incredibly beautiful woman.

She lacked confidence but radiated a kindness, like an angel. It did not help that the sun happened to be shining on her at just the right moment to make it seem like she was surrounded by a halo. And those freckles that dusted her nose and cheekbones, were just cute. And Damian never thought of something as cute.

“If… if you’re not interested that’s cool,” she continued. “I just figured with starting a new school mid-year must be horrible and… I get that being surrounded by a ton of happy people while being one of the only one’s alone might be… painful.”

“Ok,” was his only response.

“Ok? So, you want me to show you around the school, that’s great. I saw you sketching so I can show you the art room first.”

“Actually, I’m a bit new to France so, if you are free, would you show me around Paris?” It was killing two birds with one stone. He would gain information about the streets of Paris from a native and he would get to spend more time with the angel.

“Oh! I didn’t know you weren’t a native Parisian, your French is incredible.” She glanced at the clock for a second before looking back at him. “We have about an hour and a half before the second half of school starts so I think there is time to see some local spots, although we won’t be able to see some of the more famous spots and we’ll have to be pretty quick if you want to see all the important spots. Of course, maybe you don’t want to in which case we can take our time and then visit just a few places.”

Even her rambling was adorable. “We’ll see how it goes.”

“Great, then let’s get started. Crepe! I forgot to introduce myself. My name’s Marinette.

“Damian. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Now that that’s settled, I’ll first show you the Place de Vosges. It’s wonderful inspiration on a sunny day…”  
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
“And here we have the Pont de la Tournelle. Right across the best bakery in Paris, Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie. Which is where our next stop is because I need to grab a quick snack. Would you like anything Damian?” She asked as they entered the bakery.

“I’m fine and just realized that I must have pulled you away from your lunch. As compensation, allow me to pay for your food.”

She laughed at that and he wondered if he sounded weird just then, until she explained. “There’s no need. I’m glad I could help show you around. Besides, the couple that runs this patisserie love me so, I don’t have to pay.”

A man the size of a real-life bear came up behind Marinette and pulled her into a hug that lifted her off the ground. “You better believe we love you pumpkin. What kind of parents would we be if we didn’t love our daughter unconditionally.” Marinette giggled at her father's antics.

Looking at the scene, Damian felt a loneliness well up inside. What was it like to have parents like that? Then the huge man turned to Damian and pulled the boy into a side hug. “Any friend of Marinette’s is a friend of ours.” The hug, while not completely unpleasant, was uncomfortable enough that Damian was suddenly glad that only Grayson was the affectionate type among his brothers.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
“Last on our stop is the Sorbonne. It’s a bit farther away then the rest of our stops but, most of our classmates enjoy coming here to see a movie.” She looked at the clock that was at the corner of the street. “We’ll have to leave now if we want to make it to class on time and I cannot afford another tardy.” 

Her expression dropped a little, clearly unhappy with returning to school for some reason.

“If we must then I guess it can’t be helped. Personally, I have no need to be in this school but, until my brother stops threatening me I suppose I’ll be seeing you around more often.”

“Mmhm,” she barely commented. And as they drew closer to the school, Marinette seemed to lose more and more energy. Eventually, they made it to the courtyard of the school where they had to part ways, her to go to her classroom, and him to go to his. 

“See you around Damian.” She turned and waved at him before making her way through the crowds of people alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have headcannoned that Marinette swears using French pastries. It was a habit she picked up from her Dad, who picked it up from his dad...  
> My current list of swears are Mille Feuilles, Crepe, Dariole, Croissant, Brioche, Croquembouche, and Eclair. These swear are more similar to taking God's name in vain rather than other types of swearing that you only say when intending to swear. That's why when they say these pastries in a normal context, it's fine, they're not swearing at you.
> 
> And I love the MDC canon that the fandom created, I just wanted to create my own name for Marinette's brand.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strategy meeting between some of the heroes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More exposition! ヽ(✿ﾟ▽ﾟ)ノ (Sorry ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ )

“Ladybug, I think it’s about time we discuss a strategy for taking Hawkmoth down,” Zatanna greeted her. “Nightwing agrees that you have enough training that, based on what we’ve seen in videos, you and Chat should be able to manage.”

“Are Nightwing and Robin joining us?”

“They’ll be offering some advice but seeing as how this is a mystical problem, it’s probably best that the two magic experts take the lead on this one.” she winked at the magical heroine.

They entered a room on the opposite side of the training room. It was a dining hall, a small one with a table for 6. There was a map of Paris spread out on the tabletop and markings scattered the map. Ladybug instantly knew what it was because she had made a similar map a few days after Master Fu had left Paris with Marianne and it was still hung up where Adrian’s schedule used to be.

“There is no point in mapping where the Akuma’s happen. At most, you’ll find a few hotspots where more Akuma’s happen but there is no evidence to say that Hawkmoth is connected to any of those places. For example, a lot of the schools are targets but, that could be because there are higher levels of stress, anxiety, and peer pressure among the students, not necessarily because Hawkmoth is a teacher or has a kid in school or anything.”

“Yeah, we noticed that too,” Nightwing added. “We were hoping to see if we could map out where the butterflies were coming from but, we turned up with a surprising lack of evidence as to where the Akuma’s fly in from. No one seems to notice them until right before they possess an item.”

“It’s not a coincidence. The miraculouses don’t mix well with technology. Robutus became the first and only Akumatized villain who was able to ignore Hawkmoth’s will. There had been instances of Akuma’s momentarily letting their desires overtake them but Hawkmoth was always able to reinstate control. And then there is the issue with cameras. I don’t know how much you have heard but, this isn’t exactly common knowledge for anyone but Miraculous holders. Kwami’s do not appear on film. It’s due to the fact that before they were bound to the miraculouses, Kwami’s were not visible to anyone. They existed in a nonphysical form.”

“It’s a bit hard to explain. They technically still have a nonphysical form as they have the ability to phase through any object they wish, yet they still need to eat, but the specifics of that is for another time. Basically, what’s important at the moment is that Kwami’s do not show up on camera.” Zatanna chimed in.

“Right, and so how is this relevant to the Akuma’s?” Robin snarked.

“It’s important because, like Kwami’s, Akuma’s will also not appear on camera. They take on some of the magical properties of Nooroo, the ability to phase through walls and windows if desired, the ability to possess objects like a Kwami, and most important for us, the inability to show up on camera.” Ladybug answered.

“So, you’re saying that cameras are useless. And there is no way to track these butterflies back to Hawkmoth once they’ve been purified?” he asked.

“No,” Zatanna said. “Once purified they become regular butterflies, stripped of magic and thus any connection they would have with Hawkmoth. Apparently Ladybug and Chat Noir have followed a few before but, they just make their way to the nearest flower patch, instead of Hawkmoth’s base of operations.”

“So there is no way to track him. Nightwing, ask Red Robin what are the possibilities of narrowing down the suspects in Paris based on our limited information.”

“It might not be necessary to track down Hawkmoth, Robin,” the spotted heroine interrupted. “There was one thing that I noted after Chat Noir and I fought against him. Hawkmoth is willing to come out from wherever he’s hiding when he has the advantage of numbers. He did it during the Scarlet Moth incident when he created an Akuma army and he did it during the Miracle Queen incident when he had an army of miraculous users.”

“Are you implying that we should let him create an army so that we can draw him out of hiding?” he raised an eyebrow.

“No. I’m stating that there is the possibility, and a high one at that, that Hawkmoth will do the same thing again and that it will afford us the possibility to attack him. Let’s face it, even if we narrow down Paris’s 2 million citizens down to a handful of suspects we still can’t break into their homes to investigate without warranted cause. We should still attempt to investigate but, there isn’t conclusive evidence to say whether it’s one person or another.”

“She does have a point baby bird. Gotham isn’t like Paris, there could be more serious consequences for breaking into a person’s house and gathering evidence.” Nightwing thought out loud. “They might even see it as tampering with a criminal investigation and dismiss the case entirely.”

“There is one added advantage to consider if we wait for Hawkmoth to appear in person,” Zatanna said. “As far as we know, Hawkmoth does not know that Ladybug and Chat Noir are working with heroes from the Justice League. He might be overconfident and come out from hiding but, he won’t be expecting three additional heroes with varying skill sets to show up in the middle of the fight.”

“And we might not even have to wait long. Hawkmoth’s attacks have become increasingly desperate, he’s sending more and more Akumas and Amoks out each week. He might try and something bigger in a last-ditch effort to take the Miraculouses.”

“-tt- Then I guess we will have to be prepared. I will still contact Red Robin, however, since only a fool would rely on luck, guesswork, and the possibility of something happening to win.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from a bat. I’m sure you have multiple backup plans for every mission you do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I honestly believe that Gabriel is going to go down like that. It's going to be some big showdown, him with one army, Ladybug and Chat Noir, maybe with a new army of miraculous holders. They've already kind of set it up and considering they've kind of dismissed Gabriel as a suspect, I don't see this going down as a 2v2 fight.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Damianette interactions! o(^▽^)o

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really have any notes to add except thank you to everyone whose still reading this fic. It means a lot to know that you've read this far. Special thanks to those who gave kudos and those who comment. I love hearing all of your opinions, and it really brightens my day!

The day after talking to the bats about how they planned to deal with Hawkmoth, Marinette needed some time to relax. Well, she didn’t think she needed time to relax but, Tikki insisted, and then Tikki forced Longg into bullying her into taking some time for herself, to do what she wanted. 

It didn’t help that Alix also made it her mission to get Marinette to relax as well. The pink-haired girl practically hijacked the work that Ms. Bustier had given her to do as class president and shoved her in the direction of the Places des Vosges. Something about “creating the next fashion trend or something,” and then her sketchbook being tossed at her before she could come up with an argument.

So, yeah, apparently it was “force Marinette to relax day”. With no other option, apparently, Marinette settled down on a park bench to begin sketching something. She looked around the park to find inspiration but instead, she saw Kagami and Adrian on a date. Shortly after she noticed them, they noticed her, and while Kagami was willing to turn away and pretend they didn’t just see each other, Adrian clearly wanted to say hi.

The couple made their way over to Marinette and before she could think of a plan to run and hide, they were already in front of her. “Hi Marinette. It’s rare to see you outside of the classroom or the bakery lately. Are you designing something?” Adrian asked.

“Oh, you know, nothing specific just seeing whatever comes to mind… You and Kagami are on a date, right?”

“Yeah, it’s been a lot easier to get out of the house with our parents’ permission if we’re together.”

Kagami looked at the watch she was wearing. “We should probably get going Adrian, we only have half an hour more before we need to split up for our separate activities.”

“It was nice talking to you again Marinette, see you tomorrow in class.” Adrian waved goodbye. Kagami just looked away.

After they had left Marinette just stared at her sketchbook a while longer, she didn’t really feel anything creative come to mind at the moment, so she put the sketchbook away and decided to just sit and stare at her surroundings. Tikki and Longg certainly weren’t going to let her leave to do something more productive anyway.

“Marinette, correct?” a voice asked from her side. It was the new kid, Damian, who she had shown around a few days ago.“What are you doing here?” 

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

“Just… taking in the scenery,” she answered.

He gestured to the empty space on the bench “Would you mind if I joined you?”

“Sure,” she smiled brightly at him. For a moment he went blind, that smile was too bright. Taking up the seat next to Marinette, he pulled out his own sketchbook and began drawing. Marinette was still just looking around the park but, it must have been pleasant because he could see some of the tension that was in her shoulders start to ease up.

After some time she eventually glanced over at him. “If you don’t mind me asking, what are you drawing?”

There was no way in hell he was going to show her or tell her the truth so he settled for a half-truth. “I’m simply drawing whatever I see,” his response was almost flippant. “It is still a work in progress, however, so I would prefer keeping it to myself.”

“That’s cool, I hate showing off my unfinished designs to people, so I understand the feeling. Do you have anything, in particular, you like to draw, or is it just anything and everything?”

“So, you’re a designer. I tend to draw scenery although sometimes I draw other things as well, such as my pets.”

“You have pets!? How many? Can I see your drawings of them?” her excitement skyrocketed. “I’ve always wanted to have a pet growing up but it’s pretty difficult to have one in the city. Not to mention all the health code violations that could come with having an animal in the bakery.”

Her enthusiasm shocked Damian but, he was pleased to find someone else who seemed to appreciate animals as much as he did. Unlike the rest of his family, excluding Cassandra. “If you’d like you may see my drawings of them. I have 4 pets, Titus, Alfred the cat, Bat-cow and Jerry,” there was no way he was going to try and explain Goliath to a civilian. Turning to the beginning of his sketchbook he first showed her Titus, then the rest of his pets.

“Oh, so you named her Bat-cow because of the bat-shaped mark on her face. That’s adorable!”

Adorable? No one who knew anything about him would call him, or anything he did, adorable, but instead of lashing out he couldn’t help but blush at the statement. “Well, I’m glad that someone appreciates my naming skills,” Grayson liked making fun of him naming her Bat-cow but, he wasn’t the one who started putting the word “Bat” in front of everything.

“You know, if I had a hamster I would name them…” before she could finish she was interrupted by a man in a suit coming up to them. 

“Hey Damian,” the man said with a cheeky grin on his face. “Did you make a new friend?”

“-tt- Grayson. What are you doing here?” Damian couldn’t hold back his annoyance.

“I happened to be in the area on business and happened to see you here in the park. Thought I’d come over, say hi. I’m just proud of you for making a friend besides Jon. What’s your name Miss?” he directed at Marinette.

“I’m Marinette. I attend the same school as Damian.” She smiled at Grayson, and like Damian, he was almost blinded.

“Wow! You’re like a ray of sunshine! Do you mind if I call you Sunshine since you’re so bright?” he asked. At her acquiescence, he continued. “Well, I’m gonna leave the two of you alone now, have fun with Damian, Sunshine.” Then he leaned down towards Damian and whispered something to the boy in English that Marinette couldn’t catch but, instantly, Damian blushed and threw a punch at the man. 

Grayson just dodged and laughed it off. As he waved goodbye, he walked away leaving the two teens alone on the park bench again.

“Not that this isn’t nice, Damian but, would you like to come over to the bakery instead? We could eat some croissants and play a game of Ultimate Mecha Strike III?”

“That sounds… nice. Although I must warn you, I have a surprising talent for video games, so don’t be upset if you lose.”

Marinette just scoffed at those words. “Ok ‘wonder boy’, just don’t act too shocked when I sweep the floor with you.” Damian may be a natural genius at video games, emphasize on the maybe part, but he definitely didn’t have the same level of experience she had with games.

They made their way to the bakery, when the game started, Damian suddenly felt an out of place demonic aura from the girl who usually acted like an angel. Perhaps he did underestimate Marinette’s abilities at video games.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

Meanwhile, as Marinette was spending time with Damian, Alix had been busy. She truly wanted Marinette to take some time to relax, the girl looked ready to drop to the floor in sleep, but that was only part of the reason. 

As soon as Marinette had left, Alix had spent the next 10 minutes gathering everyone but Lila and Chloe together in the courtyard of the school. As expected though, she couldn't manage to get Adrian to join.

"Listen up guys, we might not all get along as well as we used to several months ago, but there's something we need to discuss. And it involves one of our fellow classmates."

"Is this about Chloe Alix?" Alya piped up. "Because we already know she's a terror" some of the other former heroes snickered at this. Sabrina looked at them uncomfortably.

" No, Alya. This isn't about some poor rich girl who had a lack of parental attention and guidance her whole life. This is about another girl who has had a lack of parental guidance, apparently and one who is deceiving you. It may take some time but I will convince you that Lila is a liar."


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this salty? I don't know, I'm just trying to resolve Lila's story relevance so I don't have to bring her up again. (I have strong feelings about the writers putting Lila in the story and frankly, I just want her gone.)

When Marinette walked into school the next day, not much had changed. The young girl still made her way to class without saying a word or stopping to chat with anyone. Although when she saw Damian sitting on the bench close to the stairs, she managed a smile and a wave. Damian at least managed to wave back if smiling was a bit too much to ask from the boy. People who knew him would also notice the slight, almost imperceptible softening of his usual frown.

When Marinette had disappeared from view of the courtyard, everyone had gathered around Lila all of a sudden.

"Hey Lila," Kim started. "Rose was mentioning how you know Jagged Stone earlier and I don't think I heard that story before. Would you mind telling me?"

"Oh, of course. It's no big deal, really. I just saved his cat from getting run over by an airplane. Uncle Stone was very grateful." 

"Wow, that must have been amazing." Kim said "It reminds me of the time that Marinette managed to get the attention of Jagged Stone with her designs. She designed his glasses, his album cover, and even managed to get Jagged to star in a reality tv show at her bakery. She's basically his honorary niece at this point." 

"Speaking of nieces and uncles," Alya interjected. "Marinette has apparently been taking cooking classes from her great uncle Wang whenever he comes to visit. We already know our girl can bake but, cooking too? She's close to becoming a real-life Mary Sue."

"How great," Lila responded, she managed to force a smile on her face. "It's just a shame that Marinette doesn't spend more of her free time helping out charities like I have. Did I mention that this weekend I had a video conference with Prince Ali to brainstorm some new ideas for our Go Green charity? He really does care about the planet." 

“That's great Lila" This time it was Rose. "But even if Marinette doesn't help charities directly, she makes the effort to help us when we do charity work. There was that time when we went to plant trees by the Seine. Or how she helps Alya with the Ladyblog. Did you know the Ladyblog actively fights against cyberbullying? Alya was worried about Akuma victims being harassed so Marinette came up with the idea to monitor comments on the blog to prevent harassing messages from appearing, Max helped set it up with an AI so Alya doesn’t have to go through all of the comments. And Alya dedicated a part of her blog to information about what to do in cases of cyberbullying and a list of support groups for victims.”

“Don’t forget Rose,” now it was Nathanial, “that Marinette helped design the poster for Kitty Section’s charity concert for children’s hospital.”

“Wait, really? All I know was that Juleka’s mom said she knew someone who could do the work for us.”

“Well, I heard from Marc, who heard from Luka, who learned from his mother, that Anarka had commissioned Marinette through her official site. Apparently, Marinette has already started a small business for her designs. And the insane part is that Anarka found out through Jagged Stone, not Marinette.”

“Wow, it sounds like Marinette knows a lot of people. That reminds me, did I tell you all-” before Lila could continue, she was interrupted by another person. Now they were talking about how Marinette knew Clara Nightingale.

Lila tried again, saying how she happened to meet the French President once, only to be placated with a “that’s nice Lila” from someone before they continued to gush about how great Marinette was, and frankly, Lila was just about done with this whole mess. What was so great about that tiny, clumsy, goody-two-shoes girl? But, it was clear she would get backlash from the rest of them if she tried to bad mouth Marinette at the moment, so there was only one thing she could do. “Oh no! It’s already 8:20, we should start heading to class everyone, we wouldn’t want to be late.”

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
Damian just sat near the stairs wondering if everything he happened to overhear was true. Oh, he had no doubts that the Rossi girl was telling lies, he had figured her out with a glance when he first arrived but was Marinette really that amazing? 

She never bought any of this up when they were talking and there were certainly opportunities. She didn’t even mention starting her own brand. Maybe she was just self-conscious about it, or perhaps she was private. He could understand the idea of wanting to keep secrets.

All he knew for certain was that he couldn’t be more impressed with Marinette unless she turned out to be a superhero. And that was high praise coming from the boy who lived with literally geniuses and Alfred.  
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

As soon as Lila had exited the classroom at the end of the day, the rest of the class swarmed Marinette, exclaiming apologies because they knew that Marinette only had their best interest at heart and had tried to warn them.

At first, Marinette was confused, then when she finally understood why they were apologizing she started to shed tears. With the way things were going, she expected people to leave her behind. Lila's threat seemed all too real four months ago and she began to believe that she would be all alone. Marinette knew her class could never hurt her but, she thought, maybe they might get tired of being around her. Yet here they were. 

Eventually, she managed to get all of their attention. “Would you guys like to get some hot chocolate? I have some time free before I need to do anything.” It wasn’t that she forgave them or anything. She didn’t really see anything to forgive. Most of them had simply drifted away and Marinette knew that they couldn’t all stay friends forever. Still, she was glad that they still wanted to be friends with her again.

The group made their way out of College Francois-Dupont. Each of them breaking into smaller groups to talk. Kim, Max, and Alix began talking about Kim’s latest, and stupid, claim about how he could definitely wrestle a bear. Markov was making the occasional input to provide statistics. Rose, Juleka, and Nathaniel were talking about the latest supplies delivered to the art room. Ivan, Mylene, and Sabrina were actually having a conversation about love poems, which wasn’t in the curriculum but must have been something all 3 felt passionate about. And lastly, there was Marinette, Alya, Nino, and Adrien. (Chloe and Lila were excluded for various reasons).

“Girl, I’m sorry I didn’t believe you about Lila from the beginning.”

“I forgive you Alya. I forgive you and the rest of the class. I’m not sure we can be best friends anymore though.” She hugged herself, nervous about where this conversation was going. “Because, even though you didn’t harass me about calling Lila a liar, you didn’t believe me at all when I first told you. Neither did yo Nino. And I was so ecstatic when you defended me when I almost got expelled but, it definitely hurt when you listened to Lila more than me these last 4 months.”

“I-I get it. You needed me to be there and I wasn’t, which wasn’t fair because you always do your best to be there for me. Still… maybe in the future? When I earn your trust again?”

Trust. Frankly, Marinette didn’t think she deserved to ask anyone to trust her. She still kept secrets from everyone and maybe it was for the greater good but, it would always weigh heavily on her mind. Regardless, it was something she would have to learn to live with because she couldn’t stop being Ladybug and she couldn’t trust everyone with her secret. Only those she trusted beyond doubt could ever know, even after Hawkmoth is gone. There was always a place to start and perhaps, she could start with becoming true friends with Alya again. “It might take time, but I’d like that.” She smiled at the girl who was always willing to stand for what she believed in, even if what she believed in might be partially wrong. Hooking her arm through Alya’s, she began to pull the girl forward. “Come on. Let’s catch up with everyone before we lose track of them.”

“Girl, your way stronger than you look. Have you been working out?”

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
Luka saw the large group walk out of the school. He had come to pick up Juleka from school and hopefully see Marinette while he was there. It had been a few weeks since she talked to the girl and he wanted to make sure she was okay. The last time she left she was crying, or at least holding back tears.

But, now she seemed fine, surrounded by her friends, happy. And don’t get him wrong. He was happy for Marinette. It’s just that, he couldn’t make her happy. He couldn’t be what she needed. 

A lone purple butterfly made its way to the scarf he had worn to ward off the chill that day. “Hello, Orpheus. My name is Hawkmoth. I understand you’ve just had your heartbroken. I’m offering you the chance to let everyone know how you feel, to let them experience the sorrowful pain of heartache.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this chapter feels rushed to me (?). I'd add more Ladybug and Chat Noir interactions except I don't have any inspiration for that here.  
> Also, cause I feel like I'm forgetting to progress time, it is late November in this chapter (it is not perpetually summer/spring).

The strange music was what alerted Marinette to what was happening first. An Akuma. Searching around, she finally saw the Akuma and immediately recognized who it was, Luka. He was playing a lyre causing that strange melody to come out. Before she could make her excuse to run off and transform she suddenly felt Alya slump against her small frame.

“Alya? What’s wrong,” the panic was barely kept out of her voice. 

“I don’t know, I just feel so… down. Like, I’m so sad that I don’t want to do anything anymore.” Looking around, Marinette saw the rest of her classmates starting to become similarly affected. For some strange reason though, she was unaffected, perhaps something to do with the miraculous?

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Marinette gently laid Alya down and rushed off to transform into Ladybug. Landing in front of the Akuma a few moments later. Chat Noir joined her soon after as well.

“Hey, Minou. It looks like you also aren’t affected by the Akuma’s music. So, I guess I was right, it was our miraculouses protecting us.”

“I don’t think so, LB. On my way over here I noticed a few people who seemed unaffected. So, unless you’ve been handing out miraculouses again, it must be some other reason." 

"Well, moving on to more pressing matters, it seems like his weapon is the lyre. And considering this was the former snake holder and a musician, it makes sense. But oddly enough I'm not sure that the lyre is the akumatized object. What are your thoughts Chat?"

"It seems to me that, regardless of whether or not it's the object we're looking for it would be better to destroy it anyway. We already know it can make people depressed to the point of removing their will to move who knows what else it could do."

"You have a point. It's strange though, normally there is a sentimonster. There must be some reason why there isn’t a sentimonster right?”

“I don’t know, maybe things just happened the way they happened. It’s pointless to speculate why.”

As they were talking amongst themselves, the tune from the Akuma changed. It became more discordant, louder. The sound grating on their nerves. Somehow it managed to be music but, everyone listening was reminded of the sound of nails on a chalkboard. The longer everyone listened the more irritated they became until finally, they all snapped!

“STOP IT!” Chat Noir lunged at the Akuma.

“My name is Orpheus,” he said, as he dodged Chat Noir’s rage-fuelled attack. Then, Orpheus slammed his lyre onto Chat Noir’s exposed back, slamming her partner into the ground. “I only want everyone to feel the same way, to understand the same pain. Don’t fight me Chat Noir and Ladybug.” 

“Un-furr-tunetly we can’t do that, Luka.” Ladybug told him. “Give up your Akuma and you won’t have to get hurt.”

Luka looked at her in disappointment and began playing his lyre again, not speaking a word. It was the same irritating tune he had just played, and even figuring out that he was trying to make her angry, Ladybug couldn’t stop herself. She rushed in, not thinking things through. When she wound up slammed against the side of a building, she can’t say she was surprised. Still, infuriated, but not surprised. 

Before she could get up, Chat Noir beat her to it and he cataclysmed the ground beneath his and Luka’s feet. A hole into Paris’ sewage system opened up and the two fell in before she could save either one. She knew that they’d be fine though since the fall wasn’t too high.

And lucky for her, the music was taken out of hearing range and gave Ladybug the opportunity to clear her mind. She needed to come up with a plan to stop Luka but she couldn’t do it with him playing his music, which meant that she had to find a way to block the sound. Right about now, a nice pair of noise-canceling headphones would be wonderful, so she should at least try her lucky charm but what were the chances of that actually appearing?

When she called on her lucky charm, as expected, it wasn’t headphones. It was a ribbon of all things. It reminded her of the ribbon she liked to wear during training, however she doubted she could pull off the same move that she pulled with Robin.

Sighing in exasperation and disgust, she jumped into the sewer where Chat Noir and Luka were.  
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
Apparently, the ribbon was meant to keep the headphones in place. When she went down in the sewers she ran into a construction worker fleeing the fight. He had the final piece to the missing puzzle that was her lucky charm. 

She still didn’t get it at first though. When she initially put on the noise-canceling headphones and leaped into battle with Orpheus he managed to knock the headphones off and that was all he needed before he started playing a tune reminiscent of a lullaby.

Racing to put the headphones on again, Ladybug almost fell asleep, making it just in time. This time figuring out what the ribbon was for keeping the headphones secured, she engaged in battle once more with Orpheus. Thus, it became a battle of skill only. And obviously, she won.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
Her Miraculous Cure sent the trio out of the sewers and back onto the streets of Paris. She and Chat left quickly before their transformations were off. But, Ladybug made her way back as soon as possible.

The last time she saw Luka, she snapped at him. She still didn't have the courage to face him as Marinette but, maybe as Ladybug, she could be of more help.

“Hey Luka, do you want to talk about why you were akumatized? You're normally great at dealing with your emotions in a positive and healthy way, I’m just... a bit concerned. You don’t have to talk about it of course.”

“No, it's fine, Ladybug, it’s sort of a silly reason but still. It’s just about a girl I love. I wasn’t enough for her, and while I’m happy she’s happy, I can’t help but feel depressed that I couldn’t be what she needed.” She knew he was talking about her. Marinette had known for some time how Luka felt about her yet, hearing his words now, she felt that he was wrong. 

“I’m not the best at dealing with heartbreak, so, I don’t know how great any advice I give will be but, it seems like she isn’t there for you. Love is great for a relationship, some would say it’s necessary but, there is more to being with someone than love. You need to be able to communicate with each other, respect any boundaries that one of them sets. Sometimes we mess up unintentionally but, when we continue to make the same mistake and when neither side is willing to compromise, it may be best to give up on the relationship. And maybe she wasn’t willing to compromise.”

It didn’t seem like the words helped Luka. While he listened to what she said, it didn’t mean his heart still wasn’t broken. “Thanks for the words Ladybug. I know I pushed her too much and wanted her to talk about things she wasn’t willing to divulge to me, I just thought that maybe she trusted me enough, if only I did something different”

“I guarantee it wasn’t your fault. You had the best intentions and she just needed to trust you more if your relationship was going to work out. I don’t know if she’ll ever trust you enough to tell you her pains. Maybe... you should consider letting go.”

“It would probably be best, right?”

“Mmm. It might be difficult but I think you’ll find someone better Luka.” He gave her a sad smile, not quite believing her words but, she knew that crushes faded and the pain would go away in time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get it? Orpheus? Cause he plays a lyre? And is heartbroken due to the loss of the one he loved? And because his music affects other people's emotions? That wasn't the original name, the original name combined the terms melancholy and melody but I hated it, and Orpheus fit the whole concept too well.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of short but I'm running on 4 hours of sleep, am following a pre-planned outline, and can't figure out how to flesh this section out more than it already is.

“You seem troubled Ladybug. This won’t affect your ability to protect the city will it?” Robin asked as he threw a punch at her face. He wasn’t really concerned about the girl, just concerned that his time in Paris was being wasted. Yes. That’s it, he was concerned about his time, definitely not about Ladybug.

Ducking underneath his punch she responded perfunctorily, “Just issues in my civilian life, nothing to worry about.” Though her mind she kept thinking of all of the ways she failed Luka. She couldn't open up to him but still expected him to be there for her. She couldn’t love him the way that he loved her. She was insensitive to his feelings. Rarely asked how he was dealing with everything. She was going to make sure he moved on, she couldn’t keep stringing him along. It wasn’t like the issue was bad enough to get her akumatized. It just weighed on her mind a lot. And distracted her from fighting.

Robin swept her feet out from under her and she fell to the floor in a pile. “It took me two minutes to beat you in a fight, you haven’t lost this bad since the beginning of your training if what Nightwing told me was true. Look, I know I’m not the… kindest towards you. But, you remind me of someone else I met while in Paris. She also does not speak about herself often. Perhaps you should talk to Nightwing about your troubles.”

“No thank you. Nightwing is nice and all but he’s also kind of pushy. I don’t want to talk about my civilian life with fellow superheroes.” Although, even Tikki admitted that he offered great advice, and Tikki took pride in offering the best advice.

“Ok, that is fair. But if this is going to continue to be a problem then I’ll force you to talk to Nightwing.” Robin paused for a moment, his own response confusing him. Why would he care if she was going to continue to be distracted? She could fail for all it mattered and he and Grayson would just fix everything. It’s one of the reasons he suspected his father sent him to Paris anyway.

“Ok, deal. But, if I talk to Nightwing about this then you need to lighten up a bit. Your negative attitude is making everything more depressing, and that’s saying something for a town under hostage by a deranged villain.” Although he’s probably an expert at making a depressing situation seem even worse, being from Gotham and all.

Zatanna came in soon after Ladybug picked herself off the floor and called her over. “I have some concerns over the whole guardianship business. You didn’t tell us that you met with one of the Guardians that preside over the Miraculouses.”

“...No I didn’t.” She didn’t want the Justice League to think there was any problem with her having the miraculouses. “They didn’t really do anything. I mean, he did tell us a bit about the traditions of the Order of the Guardians, and it’s sickening and cult-like, but, he didn’t offer any helpful knowledge or advice.” 

“Are you sure that was all?” She pressed the issue, and if Marinette had one bad skill, it would definitely be lying

“...He did imply... thatImightloseGuardianshipoverthemiraculousbox.” she mumbled the last part almost incoherently.

“What!?” Surprisingly, this came from Robin. She didn’t know that he cared. “We can’t let those morons take back the miraculouses, they’ll just lose them again. They’re better with you, someone we trust.” 

“I don’t want to lose the miraculouses either. I know that my guardianship was sudden and that it places an enormous strain on me, but I can’t give it up.” She thought about all of the kwamis. How Wayzz is willing to share a cup of tea and Sass will offer advice. How Fluff helps her with her history homework even if she doesn’t make a lot of sense and how Xuppu makes her laugh. “There is something about being a Guardian that is special, that I want to protect” She imagines all of the kwamis trapped in the box again, possibly forever. “I don’t want to give the role up because I have friends to protect.”

“Then we’ll help you. The monks have been released from a 200 hundred year stasis, they do not know how the world works anymore. It might be in everyone’s best interest that you become the next guardian.” Zatanna told her.

“Thank you, Zatanna.” Ladybug looked at a clock hanging on the wall then and couldn’t help the screech that left her mouth. “No, no, no, no, no! I didn’t realize it was this late! My parents are going to freak out!”

“Hahahaha. I’m sorry but that is hilarious. You, a superhero teen, has to worry about a curfew.” Robin couldn’t stop laughing.

Ladybug couldn’t stop the grin from appearing on her face. This was the first time she heard Robin laugh. “Yeah, it’s pretty ridiculous. But my maman is terrifying. She’d never hurt me but she has managed to chase away more than one annoying customer with her bo staff training.” 

“Anyway, thank you, Robin. For your concern. And for not pushing the issue too far.” she paused and looked at him for a moment. “See you soon,” she ran off before he could say anything.

And Robin just stood there in a stupor, staring at the front door until Nightwing came in teasing him about having a crush on Marinette and Ladybug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you guys for the kudos, comments, and bookmarks. Surprisingly we are nearing the climax of the story, we're not there yet, but soon... anyways, hope you all have a good week. ( •̀ ω •́ )y


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'd like some opinions on something. I have ideas for a part two of this story. Not to spoil too much, it would take place in Gotham and tie up some loose ends from the end of this story. I'll probably write it regardless since I have quite a few ideas for it but, I'd like to know how interested you all would be in a second story. Might be hard to judge right now since this story isn't done yet but, I have a lot of course work and work-work so, I'm trying to plan what fanfictions I should prioritize. It's between a Maribat sequel, an Enola Holmes story or an ATLA fic.

“Wow! What a crazy fight! I can’t believe you took that Akuma down with a bowl! As always, your lucky charms are always the craziest M’lady.” They were standing on top of one of the various rooftops of Paris.

“You know me Minou. Always the wild card. Still, even though my lucky charms are crazy, the fact that you manage to keep up with my insane plans…” she shook her head “...that’ll always impress me. Anyway, I never really ask… how are things going with your girlfriend, Mr. Model?”

“Oh, her? It’s been pretty great with her lately. I’ve been feeling a bit sad though. I didn’t really realize that being in a relationship meant that the limited time I already had would become occupied with my girlfriend. I hardly ever hang out with my friends anymore.”

Ladybug smiled at that. It was a typical Adrien thought, of course, he would want to spend more time with his friends, just because he was in a relationship doesn’t mean he wanted to abandon them for more time with Kagami. “That’s an easy solution, just hang out with all of them at once. Like a double date, except with… however many friends you invited.”

“Maybe, and most of my friends are dating so it shouldn’t be too weird. But, my girlfriend and one of my friends don’t get along well. They used to, then something changed between them.” Marinette wasn’t so dense that she didn’t know he was talking about her and Kagami’s broken friendship.

“Just don’t force the issue. Strained or broken relationships aren’t going to get better by forcing the two people to spend unwanted time together. It might be for the best that you don’t invite this specific friend along,” besides, she could always hang out with Damian if everyone was with Adrien and she ran out of things to take care of. She had noticed how most of the school avoided or ignored the boy, and she knew that it was never a great experience to be lonely, even if it’s what you think is best.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
“Hey Damian!” the angel was waving at him from across the school courtyard. “Wait up. I want to ask you something.” He stood still watching her approach him through the crowd of students impeding her movement.

When she finally reached him she asked if he wanted to spend some time with her. “I know you might be a bit busy or have something planned at the moment but, if you are free, maybe you’d like to join me for ice skating right now?”

He didn’t actually have time for something as trivial as ice skating. His time was better spent practicing his katana forms but he couldn’t stop himself. “I’d love to join you.” She smiled at him so brightly he almost reflexively tried to block the rays of light, and then she grabbed his hand and started pulling him, presumably towards the ice skating rink. From there everything became a blur, all he could focus on was the warmth coming from her hands.

Before he could process what just happened, they stood before a somewhat rundown building. It was clearly in the process of being renovated although they had apparently stopped for the winter.

"I don't know if you've noticed yet or not, but I can be very clumsy. So don't be surprised when I suddenly fall every couple of minutes."

"I haven't noticed anything of the sort Marinette." And he hadn't. The only times she seemed clumsy were moments of extreme nervousness or whenever she felt flustered. And those moments were seldom, at least around him.

They spent the next hour skating, just the two of them as the rest of the place was devoid of people. Until a large group of people walked into the rink. Damian recognized them as his colleagues from College Francois Dupont, Marinette's classmates, and two less familiar people.

The blond boy near the front of the group looked surprised to see Marinette but, he was quick to smile and wave at the two of them, calling out to his companion. "I didn't know you'd be here! What a great coincidence!" He hesitated and the smile fell from his face before he continued "Would you like to join us, Mari?"

Damian wasn't sure of the specifics, and it would be hasty to assume anything but based on the scenario presented, it looked like Marinette was being excluded from class activities. The blond guy seemed to like Marinette though. He didn't know why but that thought made him want to punch the sunshine smile off of the blond’s face.

Thankfully for all involved, he didn't start throwing fists. He looked at Marinette beforehand and saw that, while she was hesitant, she did not appear to be afraid or upset. In fact, she seemed surprised and happy.

"Hey Adrien, Alix, Nino… everyone. I was just hanging out with Damian.” she gestured to him while he just stood back and looked on impassively at the group. “And... I wouldn't want to make him uncomfortable, being around a lot of unfamiliar people. But it's great to see you out and about for once Adrien. Don't let my absence mar your once in a lifetime chance to get out of the house."

"Deal. But next time you're coming along too."

"Okay, Mr. Model. Whatever you say." She turned around to talk to Damian. "Looks like the rink is about to get pretty crowded. Do you want to leave?”

“That sounds preferable.” He certainly didn’t want to spend time around a bunch of near strangers. There were only so many people he could tolerate in life and very few of those people were in Paris.

Marinette started walking backward. “Great, want to grab some hot- oof” her question was cut off as her apparent clumsiness decided to finally make an appearance. She managed to walk right into a girl that was just coming into the rink, knocking the girl into the boy with blue hair, and managing to fall down herself.  
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
“Oh no! I’m sorry! I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, are you ok?” Marinette could not believe her luck. She just body-slammed a girl into Luka! Things were already awkward between the two of them since she officially turned him down a few weeks ago. And she didn’t even know this girl, what a great impression she made. Damian held out his hand to pull her up.

The girl dusted off her jeans and straightened the flannel shirt she wore over a Nightingale t-shirt. “No problem, I’m okay.” She turned to Luka. “I’m guessing you're fine too unless my body weight managed to crush your lungs?”

Luka smiled back at the now grinning girl. “Yeah, I’m cool. Name’s Luka.”

“Iris, nice to crash into you.” They continued to stare at each other, and even the densest person could tell where they weren’t wanted. Marinette grabbed Damian’s hand and bolted out the door, grinning like a fool. She was happy that Luka found someone, at least for today, to hang out with so he wouldn’t have to be the thirteenth wheel.

“So Damian, up for some hot chocolate and another epic gaming battle of Ultimate Mecha Strike 3?” He smirked at her.

“You mean, am I ready to win an epic gaming battle? Because the answer is yes.”  
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
“Sir, are you feeling okay?” Natalie was standing behind Gabriel in his office, her hands clenched around the clipboard she seemed to always have on her.

“Nathalie, another Akuma has failed.” his back hunched over, he didn’t cut the same imposing figure as he usually did. This was a man who tasted defeat one too many times. “I thought that with the peacock miraculous I would finally have the advantage over two mere children.” 

Natalie moved to where Gabriel was standing to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Don’t lose hope, Gabriel. One day you’ll definitely get the upper hand. You won the Miracle Queen incident and they haven’t taken your miraculous yet.”

“It just seems so pointless,” he turned away. “It feels as though Emilie will never wake up. Perhaps I should reconsider my plans going forward” He left the office, heading towards the dining room for dinner.

She wasn’t ready to give up though. There must be a way to bring Emilie back. Gabriel didn’t let her use the peacock miraculous anymore, since her health was still deteriorating. But, all she had to do was convince him to let her use it once more. After all, they managed to akumatized one miraculous before, they could do it again, only for this to work he couldn’t fuse the miraculouses together like he’s been doing for the past several months. All she had to do was somehow convince him.

Bonus scene:  
"So... you mean to tell me that this man, Mr. Ramier, has been akumatized 25 times and the police still continue to harass the poor man for simply feeding pigeons?" They were sitting in Marinette's living room in the middle of their tournament.

"I mean... he's not supposed to feed them, Damian, it'll just attract pigeons everywhere and they'll make a mess all over the city." Personally, she didn't have a problem with the whole ordeal, but it was against the law and as Ladybug she had a duty to uphold the law.

"Pigeons have more rights to be in this city than humans. They are not bound by the conventions of borders, they can be where ever they want. And what is the man supposed to do, just let the pigeons that are already here starve. Mr. Ramier is a hero, almost single-handedly feeding the entire pigeon population of Paris out of his own wallet. Just let him feed the pigeons."

"I guess you have a point... And I suppose having a few more pigeons around wouldn't be too bad..." Maybe she could talk to someone as Ladybug, it did kind of seem like they were blowing the problem out of proportion, after all, it's not like the entirety of Paris would be covered in pigeons. 

Thus, Paris was overrun by Pigeons when Ladybug convinced the Mayor to let Mr. Ramier feed his pigeons. On the bright side, Mr. Pigeon never became an Akuma again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More thingsヾ(≧ ▽ ≦)ゝ :  
> I added Iris because I didn't want to leave Luka depressed or pining after Marinette but, Kagami was taken so those were the two main ships already sunk. So, I created Iris. Her name's a flower. Get it? Like how Juleka has Rose, Luka has... Anyway, I don't understand love or love at first sight (or crash) so, let me know what you think of her, this is Iris' only planned appearance in this story and the sequel, but if you guys like the idea of her I can try to give her more presence as a minor character.  
> And yeah, I definitely think Damian would take Mr.Ramier's side with the whole pigeon situation.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some good times between siblings, some drama between parent and child, but no Marinette?

It was a very important moment for Damian as he sat on the freezing park bench with Grayson.

"So, what you are telling me, is that the way I 'feel' around Marinette means I like her?" It had been a few weeks since the ice skating date and… no, no. It wasn't a date, they just hung out as friends. Grayson told him that a date is "when two people who think they "like" each other, or know they "like" each other do stuff together. “And he wasn't sure Marinette liked him that way yet. He wasn't entirely convinced he liked her like that!

"Seems like it, Babybird. I can't say for certain since I can't know your emotions exactly but, based on what you told me, sounds like a crush." Grayson placed his hand over Damian's shoulder and in a serious voice said, "I am so proud of you Damian. You've proven to yourself and the rest of the family that you can be normal."

He had to quickly duck to avoid Damian's well-aimed punch. "Shut up you fool. I know you're happy because you just won the bet going on between you, Drake and Todd."

"I am happy about that but, I'm also just really glad you're enjoying yourself. There is a reason why I took your side in the bet. Not because I knew you would change but because I had hope that you would. It's also great that we get a new baby sister too! When you start dating she'll become an honorary Wayne!"

Damian's cheeks were already flushed from the cold weather but it wasn't enough to hide the blush that made its way across his face.

"Awww, Damian, your blushing! That's wonderful!"

"Grayson I swear I'll cut you with my katanas as soon as we get back to Gotham.” He paused for a moment, a look of contemplation and reluctance on his face. “Is it okay for me to like Marinette? As someone with my background and life, she would be in constant danger. From the Gotham rogues to my mother, it seems unfair to place her in that position.”

“Well, if you are against putting a civilian in harm’s way then there really is no helping it. Even without your superhero persona, your status as Bruce’s son puts you, and anyone connected with you, in danger.” Dick paused for a moment, taking in the snowy scenery. “In that case, what about Ladybug?”

“What about Ladybug? Why would you bring her into this conversation?” He looked at his older brother like he was crazy.

Grayson stared at his brother in shock for a moment before facepalming. “Sorry, I forgot for a moment that I was talking to you. I forgot that you would be completely oblivious to the fact that you also like Ladybug.”

“That’s absurd! I do not like her, I tolerate her.” 

"Damian. Every time she manages to get the best of you during practice you blush."

"Out of annoyance."

"Then why can you not take your eyes off of her whenever she's around?"

"Precautionary measure. She may be our ally now, but who knows when that may change." Dick shook his head. The poor boy was deluding himself. All that he could do was to try and guide his youngest brother as best as he could.

"Ok, Damian. Let's just hope that Marinette is actually Ladybug so you won't have to deal with coming to terms with the fact that you’re in love with two girls. And so that you don’t have to worry about her safety.”

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

The dining room was empty except for two people. Adrien sat at the table while his bodyguard stood behind him.

"Hugo? Could you please ask Natalie to tell my father that I need to ask him something?" He was hoping that he could ask for some additional time to spend with his friends, or as he told his father, ‘networking with the future industry leaders of Paris’. After all, there was no harm in asking.

At that same moment, a miracle occurred and Gabriel entered the room with Natalie trailing behind him, "No need to ask him, Adrien. I'm right here," Gabriel announced.

Adrien really wanted to ask but he had to hesitate. "Are you okay father? It looks like you should go back to bed and rest for a while." It was true. Gabriel looked like he hadn't slept for the last four days.

"It's nothing. I realized that we hadn't had dinner together in quite some time, so I decided we should eat together." It was probably Natalie that reminded him. "Now what was that you wanted to ask me?" He sat down at the head of the table, as far away from Adrien as he could have sat.

"Well… I was hoping you could lighten my schedule so that I could spend some more time with my friends."

"No. I already had Natalie rearrange your schedule last week so you could spend time with your friends. With that adjustment, there is just no room for your schedule to be fixed." Gabriel shut the conversation down and began eating his meal. 

It took a while but Adrien plucked up his courage to ask his father something again. “Well, how about we both find time to spend together. If my schedule can't be rearranged, maybe you could come and visit me at a photo shoot, or maybe you could sit in on my piano lesson again."

"I'm far too busy to do something like that." He tried to shut down the conversation again. Except for this time Adrien wasn't going to let it go.

"Why are you doing this! All I want is to spend some time with other people. And we never spend time together. I bet you don't even know the last time we talked to each other." It was two weeks ago.

"You're being ridiculous Adrien. Now stop acting crazy and calm down."

"No. I'm tired of this lie.” He stood up from his seat. “You're so hung up over Mom's disappearance that you've forgotten that I'm still here!"

Gabriel couldn't take it any longer. Maybe it was because he was too tired to keep his emotions in check, or maybe it was Adrien's accusing tone that set him off. "That's not true! I think about you every hour of every day.” Following Adrien’s example he quickly rose out of the chair he was sitting in. “I wonder if you are still safe with all of these akumas around and whether or not I'll lose you too. Every day I regret letting you go to that insipid school and let you be in danger." 

He finally seemed to calm down and, after fixing his hair that got into disarray, he sat down, and he spoke in a calm voice. "One day when you are older and have kids of your own you will understand the demands of parenthood."

"No father. I won't ever understand this. You try to keep me safe and instead you make my life miserable and lonely. Maybe if you bothered to be a part of my life things wouldn't be so bad." He walked away from the table and left the room, his dinner unfinished.

Gabriel sat there at the table, not touching the food placed in front of him. Regretting some of the choices he made to get his goal.

Natalie looked on impassively. She pitied Adrien, but he was not her main concern at the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I tried to follow canon as closely as I can remember but I absolutely hate the way Gabriel's character is written. I could write an essay on how they fucked up his character and how they could have improved it with a few changes to the plot. So, from my standpoint, Chat Blanc never happened, which, you know, crazy time shenanigans, it didn't really happen. Gabriel is still a shitty father, always has been but, he's also a grieving husband, and he doesn't handle... emotions... well. So, yeah, I tried to make him more sympathetic (this makes sense as to why I'm doing this in the finale, trust me) and I also needed a reason why Adrien would try to find his father's approval so much instead of acting out in teenage rebellion/angst and hating his parent(s). Adrien's sunshine incarnate sure, but even he can get pissed off at people, yet never with his dad, meaning he has hope that his dad will change meaning there has to be something there to give him hope that his dad will change.


	23. Chapter 23

He could do this. Damian wasn't really familiar with giving himself a pep talk but after the conversation he had with Grayson, he wasn't going to ask him for more advice.

Finally, he was going to ask Marinette to spend some time with him, or "hang out" as Jon would call it. He realized that the only time he has ever asked her to spend time with him was when he asked if the seat next to her on the park bench was empty. This time it would be his turn. He knew as a Wayne he would normally be putting her at risk, but this wasn't Gotham. He was sure that he could protect her from any threats that Paris might offer, and it wasn’t like anything had happened yet. What would be the harm in going out while he was in Paris?

He was standing in front of the steps to the school when he saw her walk out of the building. "Hello Marinette, he paused for a moment, and Marinette stared at him, waiting for him to continue. “I was... wondering... if you would be interested in accompanying me to see a movie. Assuming, of course, that you are not busy"

A blush quickly formed on Marinette's cheeks, maybe from the cold or maybe because this was the first time someone had asked her out on a date, that she was aware of. No one had ever asked her out except when her dad asked her to go to that father-daughter dance that the kindergarten set up when she was 4. He gave her a rose and swooped her in a big hug, swinging around, like the answer "no" was a possibility.

Unfortunately this time Marinette didn't get a chance to answer before she noticed something suspicious from the corner of her eye.

A blue feather, another amok. Except… there was another one and another. Mille-feuille, it was a wave of amoks! "Damian we need to leave, now!" She grabbed his hand before he could react and dragged him in a direction away from the amoks.

Damian didn't need to be told what was going on, he managed to catch a good glimpse of what was behind them. Thinking the same thing, they both knew that Hawkmoth and Mayura had finally made their move and it was time for the heroes to make theirs.

She pulled him into the bakery and then started yelling. "Code scarlet! We have another potential scarlet situation!" People began rushing into the bakery behind Marinette before Marinette's mother pushed a button and security blinds covered every door and window. 

Their timing was perfect as one of the feathers almost made its way through the door but was stopped in its tracks. 

As soon as the building was secured, Damian knew he needed to find a way to escape and become Robin. In the back of his mind he commended Marinette’s quick thinking, it quite possibly saved him and his identity, at the same time he cursed his own bad luck. There seemed to be no way to escape this situation without revealing his identity to the Parisian superheroes or becoming enslaved by that megalomaniac magical moron.

While Damian looked around the place trying to figure out a way to escape, Marinette explained the situation to everyone present. "It looked like Mayura's feathers except a lot of them. I saw them infect a few people while we were running and those people just stopped moving."

"It's weird that the amoks aren't phasing through the door. Usually, they have that ability. Maybe you were wrong," a customer chimed in.

Marinette had her own theory about that but that involved knowledge that everyday citizens wouldn’t have. "Still, better safe than sorry. Mama, I'm going to head upstairs, will you be fine down here?"

“I’d prefer if you’d stay down here honey, the upstairs isn't as secure as the bakery.” Except Marinette couldn’t transform while everyone was in the bakery. What was she supposed to do then? If she couldn’t leave the room, should she get everyone else upstairs? No, that’s a stupid idea. What lie could she come up with that Maman would accept so she could leave? Medical emergency? No, she knows everything about my medical history. School project? She wouldn’t think it’s important right now. Calling Alix and Alya to make sure they’re alright? There’s no reason why she couldn’t make the call in the bakery. Wanting to change her clothing that became stained from running away? No, that didn’t work last… Wait! Stained clothing! That’s it!

“Um… I’m sorry Maman. I really need to go upstairs. It seems that all of this stress from Hawkmoth has impacted my normal ‘schedule’”. Marinette whispered the last part to avoid as much embarrassment as possible. Her lying was horrible, but talking about this subject in public, real or not, was bound to make her embarrassed. “I wasn’t prepared for it to come so soon and… I wasn’t exactly prepared. I know that it’s a bit more dangerous but, could I please go upstairs, change and then lie down? My cramps are worse than usual.” She gave what she hoped was a pained smile to seal the deal.

“Oh, honey… I understand. Make some soothing tea while you're upstairs and remember to rest somewhere far away from the windows. I’ll send your father up when we finish settling everything down here.”

“Um, no need. I’ll just be sleeping anyway. I promise I’ll be fine. I’ll even sleep under the kitchen table, you know, so any small debris won’t fall down on me if the fighting gets close.” It was flimsy but, all of these lies were becoming too much. Her lying skills were already subpar, her time as a hero did little to improve those skills. 

“If you’re sure dear. Hopefully tomorrow you’ll feel better and just call for me or your father if you need anything.”

As Marinette made her way to her room to discuss strategy with Tikki, Damian contacted Grayson for help. Not that it helped him that much. The idiot wasn’t answering his phone.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

"Tikki! How am I supposed to defeat Hawkmoth if I can't step outside!?"

"Calm down Marinette. You can sense it too right. Since you've started training with Zatara your sense for magic has gotten stronger. Mayura's feathers don't work like they used to. She's injured still and with such a large-scale attack, the amoks aren't as powerful. I don't think they can infect a miraculous user when they are transformed

You think!" The hysteria leaking into her voice. "I don't think that we should operate under assumptions!" 

"Trust me Marinette. You'll be fine

If you're sure?" Tikki nodded her head. "Ok, Tikki transform me!" 

Exiting through her balcony's hatch she found out that Tikki was right. In fact, it seemed like the amoks avoided her entirely. But before she could leave and prepare for the fight, she needed to inform Chat Noir.

Turning on the communication device on her yoyo she left him a message explaining everything he needed to know.

"Chat Noir, before you make any sudden movements, I want you to stay out of sight, maybe observe what's going on. If you and your Kwami haven't found out yet, it is okay for us and other miraculous users to step outside. Remember the plan we discussed a few weeks ago? Well, this is our chance. I am going to go get the other heroes. Let's meet up at the Arc de Triomphe in 30 minutes. And let me know if anything goes wrong. I'll be as quick as possible."

She closed her yo-yo and lept off the top of her home. She needed the help of a few birds.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

(One hour ago)

“Sir, I think it’s time. Please, we must do this, it’s our only chance of winning.”

“Natalie… I cannot do this anymore. Emilie won’t wake up, I’ve hurt Adrien enough as it is. I don’t know how to be a good father but, he’s right I’ve neglected him for too long.”

She went up to Gabriel and placed her hands on his shoulders. “You are doing this for Adrien. He needs his mother. Even though Adrien seems to be handling the loss of Emilie well, you can still see the longing for her to come back.” Natalie turned towards the butterfly window. “All of this is for her, we can’t continue on without her around.”

“You’re injured, Natalie. Akumatizing your miraculous while you wear will it only hurt you more.”

“That is a risk I am willing to take. You have already sacrificed a great deal to get this far Gabriel. What else do you have to lose at this point?” Her back stood straight, resolute with her decision. 

Gabriel was simply resigned to the fate he had set in motion almost two years ago. There was no turning back from this choice. Only the option to move forward remained. 

Nooroo heard the weariness in his voice, as he called out the transformation words. He was an empathetic little god by nature. It didn’t matter what Gabriel had done up to this point, to him or anyone else, he couldn’t help the tear escape from his eye as he was pulled into the miraculous.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a crazy week it's been, lots of good news, some bad news, hopefully, everyone is staying safe.

On her way to the mansion, Marinette expected to encounter hordes of amoks running around the city, terrifying whoever failed to get to safety, but what actually happened was far more unsettling. Perhaps the peacock miraculous sustained residual damage, the magical damage affecting Mayura, or that fact that a previously damaged miraculous was akumatized and wielded by an injured person, but the peacock miraculous certainly didn’t create any amoks.

Instead, Paris had become Mayura and Hawkmoth’s army. It was similar to Miracle Queen’s power, except it appeared as though the citizen’s caught up by the attack had a bit more agency than they did with Miracle Queen. They acted like zombies, mindless except, searching, for one thing, the miraculouses. 

It hurt to see some of her classmates caught up in the attack. She spotted Alya, Mylene, Andre the ice cream man, and even Chloe turned into these zombies. There was every chance that they would end up pulling any citizens from safety and infect them as well, they needed to end this soon before this zombie army grew too large.

Launching herself through the front door and quickly closing it, she made sure to purify the few stray feathers that followed her in before shouting. “Zatanna! Where is the Guardian book? We need to consult it.”

“Little bug?” A groggy voice came from the side entrance to the mansion. “Why are you here at… Woah, it’s already 1 pm? Damn, I shouldn’t have binge-watched Gravity Falls. What’s going on?”

"Hawkmoth's made his move. Where are Zatanna and Robin, Nightwing?"

She could see his face pale a bit at her words. "Robin is somewhere in the streets of Paris. I'll try contacting him to see what's happened to him. Zatanna was taken off-world with several of the other members of the Justice League. There is a… crisis that needed to be dealt with, they decided that we could spare Zatanna. Do you have a plan?"

"Somewhat," Marinette raced through the house attempting to find where she had placed the Miraculous book. There were two problems at the immediate moment.

One, Ladybug and Chat Noir were outnumbered. It would be the two of them versus Hawkmoth, an akumatized Mayura, and a significant portion of Paris. They needed help, which is where problem two came into play.

She needed to make a decision going forward as to how Nightwing and Robin would assist. Giving the two vigilantes miraculouses wasn't so simple a solution. The pair had a specific style of fighting that they had honed over the years. They may be weapons masters but they might not be able to deal with the magical aspects of the miraculouses. Not to mention, Robin wasn't even here so she would be unable to give him a miraculous. From there there were two options, provided she could find what she needed.

Flipping through the pages, her luck held out, a potion for magic nullification. It wasn't foolproof, it only worked on Miraculous magic, and it would be costly to make. Master Fu's ingredients would be just enough to make one potion.

"Here's the plan," she raced around grabbing ingredients. "Chat Noir is on standby, monitoring the situation. Miraculous users are immune to power, everyone else is not. So, Nightwing," she pulled out a familiar-looking Chinese box, " here is the miraculous of the monkey. Use it for the greater good or else I'll ask Chat Noir to kill you." 

The goofy grin let Marinette know that he didn't take her threat seriously, even though she was half-serious. She wasn’t going to lose another miraculous, no matter the cost. She just wasn’t too worried about Nightwing taking it. Still, better to cover all bases. "Give me a minute and I'll finish one batch of the potion. I'll need you to extract Robin and give him this potion, ok?"

"Gotcha," he opened the box and Xuppu popped out. “How do I transform?”

Marinette ignored him and continued working so Xuppu took over the explanation. “You need to say the special incantation. It goes like this, ‘By the power of Xuppu, I am…’ and then you can choose whatever superhero name you’d like, but make sure you hold up my miraculous high in the air while doing it. For additional powers you have to complete a sequence but, we don’t have time to teach you that now.”

Marinette passed them by before Dick could make a fool of himself pretending to be He-man. “Just wear the circlet on your head and say transform me, but yeah, you can choose the name,” and then continued on with the task almost complete.

“Okay Xuppu,” he put on the circlet, “By the power of Xuppu, transform me!” Dick held up his fist like he was holding a microphone and the world was his stage, the transformation washed over him. “I am Gorille, defender of the universe, and champion of peace!”

“Okay, okay,” Marinette shoved the finished potion into ‘Gorille’s’ hand. “Find your brother, yes I know he’s your brother, you're the only one who has a nice nickname for him, and meet up with Chat Noir and me at the Arc de Triomphe. Don’t engage in a battle with the civilians unless necessary and try not to use your ability. We’re keeping the element of surprise up until the last minute.”

“Wait, Ladybug,” he grabbed her elbow before she could move. “I think we should call in some more outside help, not all of the justice league is in space. We could ask for help, there’s nothing wrong with that.” 

“It’s been almost 8 months since you have begun to train me since I called the Justice League, and maybe this is inviting a jinx but, I believe that I made the right choice, in finally asking someone for help. I can’t say that I’m the best at admitting that I may be in over my head at times but, today is not one of those days. Without enough miraculouses, or potions, or even guaranteeing the safe entryway to other heroes, we can’t take that risk, so it’s up to four of us. I need you to believe in this Nightwing because I’m not sure I can. So, please, believe that this is enough, ok?”

The sigh of exasperation was enough of an answer for her. “Robin’s been texting me nonstop for the past thirty minutes, asking me to get him out of this mess, he’s stuck somewhere public and in an emergency ‘safe house’/ bakery. So, I’ll have to sneak him out. See you in 30 minutes… and try to stay safe, wouldn’t want my honorary younger sister to suffer from a broken rib cage.”

She hesitated before she jumped out of the window. She was going to do this again. Chat Noir didn’t have a say in whether or not he wanted to fight this battle, she didn’t get a say. And she guessed that, depending on how one looked at it, no one got the choice to participate in this crazy nonsense, except, most people weren’t given a miraculous. She hadn’t let anyone else wear a miraculous in almost a year. Nightwing chose to help, the Justice League chose to help, Robin was choosing to help them, so she could only hope that she wouldn’t fail again.

“You too. Try not to get too seriously injured out there, Chat would hate it if the only person who loved puns as much as he did got hurt.”

“You got it,” he saluted. “No monkeying around.” He laughed at his own pun, she just rolled her eyes good-naturedly. As she left, the weight she had been feeling on her shoulders felt lighter than it had in quite some time.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final battle... or is it?

Everything started at the Eiffel Tower. It was the place where he first appeared, with akumas forming an image of his face. It was the place where he first appeared in person. But, it was not where this battle would end.

Chat Noir had found them on top of the Arc de Triomphe, it disgusted her to see the villainous duo there. It was like they were so sure of their victory that they thought the perfect place for the final battle was the same monument that was frequently the place of victory marches. But, they hadn’t won yet.

Ladybug had yet to see Gorille and Robin in the vicinity, so attacking wouldn’t be advantageous at this point. At best they were outnumbered, at worst, Hawkmoth and Mayura were actually more skilled than they previously led everyone to initially believe. Unfortunately, they spent too much time trying to decide. The villains made the decision for them when they managed to spot them hiding on a roof not too far away.

“Citizen’s of Paris, it’s time to take down Ladybug and Chat Noir once and for all. They’ve kept their miraculouses for too long! They could have handed them over at the beginning and the months you have spent wasting away under emotional turmoil wouldn’t have existed. But, they selfishly kept the power to themselves.” It wasn’t Hawkmoth giving this insane villainous last stand speech, it was the akumatized Mayura. 

The pair had always assumed that everything was Hawkmoth’s plan and that Mayura was just helping him out of a sense of loyalty or love. But it seemed like Mayura was just as active in planning all of this as Hawkmoth, even if she wasn’t there at the beginning.

While these thoughts were passing through their minds, the mind-controlled citizens of Paris started making their way to them, one would think, being on top of a rooftop, that there would be nothing to worry about from regular citizens on the ground. And that would be correct... if these were regular citizens. 

It was time to make another discovery about the villains’ army, they had enhanced physical abilities. It wasn’t comparable to the enhanced physical abilities a miraculous gave its wielder but it was pretty shocking to suddenly see everyday people start climbing the side of the building like monkeys and jumping to and from places to get a better foot or handhold. Except these were still regular citizens most of whom had no formal experience parkouring and not exactly at their best mental capacity. So, some of them, a lot of them, failed, and fell, and got hurt as a result.

The miraculous cure would heal anyone injured… if they won, but that was never a guarantee. And what if these people remembered what happened? Akuma’s tend to forget their time as an akuma but everyone else usually remembers, unless under extenuating circumstances. They would remember all of this, including the pain. So, maybe that was the plan all along, get Ladybug and Chat Noir down from the rooftops so the mind-controlled Parisians would follow. 

Regardless, that was what happened, and if Ladybug and Chat Noir were unwilling to let the civilians get hurt by letting them climb up the sides of buildings, then they were more unwilling to actually fight these people, the best they could do was temporarily knock the wind out of each person that came at them and incapacitate a few with Ladybug’s yo-yo for a few seconds.

The fight didn’t last long. Maybe if they had fewer qualms about hitting their neighbors and friends and innocent people they could have won but, what could anyone expect, they were only fifteen. Fortunately for everyone, except for Hawkmoth and Mayura, Hawkmoth began to do the cliche villain monologue. Sometimes the heroes around the world had to wonder if the monologue was an excuse to give the heroes time to escape because the villains didn’t truly want to win. Perhaps, deep down, they don’t want any of this to happen, then again maybe they were just stupid.

“I can’t believe we finally won… ahem… I mean… At last! Your mirculouses will be mine, Ladybug and Chat Noir! It’s been over two years since I began planning and desperately trying to find where you two were. In the end, I figured wherever you were in the world you would end up in Paris at the very least to stop me. Considering how quickly you showed up that first time, I was lucky and you were here all along. You and everyone else probably think I’m the villain here but, I just wanted to bring my wife back. You children wouldn’t understand the pain of losing such an important person in your life.”

The cold emotionless way in which his voice sounded when he wasn’t screaming was the first thing that clued Chat Noir in, the second was the way he spoke down to them. It wasn’t hard proof but, they had never interacted long enough with Hawkmoth to really understand the guy. 

Chat Noir couldn’t hide the pain that showed up on his face, especially when Hawkmoth just assumed that neither of them had experienced the pain of losing a loved one. He couldn’t say if Ladybug had that kind of experience and he hoped to Kwami she didn’t but, it was so typical of him to just assume. Yes, he might not have any concrete proof of it but, not even magic was going to prevent Adrien from recognizing his father. It was the way that they talked, both of them made him feel insignificant and immature like he didn’t know anything about the world.

Hawkmoth went to grab the miraculouses of the heroes while the pair were being held down, except, in classic hero form, a flying object managed to cut Hawkmoth’s path to the Ladybug earrings. Hawkmoth looked up to where the bat-shaped object flew in from, and there he saw, standing, Robin and another temporary miraculous hero.

“Let go of the children you crazy, self-centered, pathetic excuse for an adult. The playing field has changed now that I, Gorille, and Robin have joined the battlefield. Prepare yourself for defeat!” Robin facepalmed beside his foolish older brother.

“The Justice League is here?” That was the obvious conclusion that Hawkmoth made after seeing Robin up there. He had yet to figure out it was just Robin and Gorille though. Seeing a bigger threat he had the mind-controlled citizens abandon the pair in order to fight the new arrivals, unfortunately for him, this freed Ladybug and Chat Noir who could now engage in battle with Hawkmoth and Mayura, leaving the civilians to Gorille and Robin.

This couldn’t have worked out better for the superheroes. Ladybug and Chat Noir wouldn’t have to worry about hurting innocent people and could just focus on the true villains, the villains that were their responsibility, meanwhile, Robin and Gorille had experience fighting innocents who were forced to fight because of a villain, and those people wouldn’t have a cure to heal them afterward.

“Little bug, Chat Noir!” It was Gorille, “Get out of here, head somewhere else.” Ladybug, being the one who usually comes up with plans, was able to figure out what Gorille was getting at, and headed west, Chat Noir following behind.

For Mayura, the choice of whether to stay or not was simple, it was the miraculouses they were after and she knew that if the Justice League showed up, unaffected by her feathers, then they were sure to lose. So, she quickly pursued Paris’ heroes, pulling Hawkmoth along.

Meanwhile, Robin pulled out two gas masks from seemingly out of nowhere and handed one to Gorille. “If you ever tell anyone what you did to get me out of that bakery I will kill you.”

“Duly noted, baby bird. How much of the sleeping gas do you have?” The citizens began to circle them, waiting for the best moment to attack.

“Not enough to knock everyone out, but enough for all of these peons here.”

“Be nice, they didn’t ask to be controlled.”

“No, but they were stupid enough to get caught,” he pulled a gas canister off of his utility belt and handed it to his, although he would never openly admit it, favorite brother. “Let’s finish this up quickly, this Hawkmoth man has the worst timing in the history of the world.”

“Was someone about to ask Marinette out?” Grayson teased. “Don’t worry, you’ll have the chance to ask her out on a date after we finish this battle,” he dodged a citizen that lunged at him.

A blush formed on Robins’s cheeks, not too visible with the mask on but, Grayson noticed and smirked at it. “Shut up! It doesn’t matter anymore because once we finish this we will be heading back to Gotham.” Grayson’s smile vanished at this reminder, his baby bird was just starting to become a normal teenage boy. He shook his head in dismay, he wondered if Marinette would be willing to start a long-distance relationship with Damian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a thing in the comics right? I feel like it's something I've seen Poison Ivy do, control people to fight her battles, I could be (and probably am) wrong about that.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The holiday season is kicking off this week, and I'm am lowkey terrified of Black Friday this year. But, at least there is no school this week, the only saving grace before finals start（－－；

They managed to make it to the Bois de Boulange before they were forced to turn around and fight. Mayura attacked first, again, surprising Ladybug and Chat Noir. Something had definitely changed between the villains, it almost seemed like Mayura was more motivated than Hawkmoth now.

Mayura headed straight towards Ladybug, throwing a punch towards her face. Ladybug deflected while Mayura followed up with a roundhouse kick but taking advantage of her height, Ladybug ducked while guarding her head, avoiding most of the kick and guarding against the rest of it. Being so low, she didn’t have many options of attack, so Ladybug moved forward, closing the gap between them, and rammed her shoulder into Mayura’s stomach, flipping the woman over her shoulders and tossing her to the ground on the other side. Turning around Ladybug prepared to face Mayura as Mayura rolled away to get time to get up on her feet. They continued to exchange blows, Mayura acting aggressively, Ladybug responding calmly.

While those two were fighting this left Chat Noir to deal with Hawkmoth. Chat didn't want to fight him, he could still be wrong but deep down he had a feeling he was right, Hawkmoth was Gabriel Agreste and of course, he wouldn't want to physically fight his dad, he may be a villain but words were always an option.

"Look F- Hawkmoth, I know you think you're the only one who's lost someone important to you but I promise you're not. If you just look at the people around you, I'm sure they can help you. This important person in your life? You weren't the only one who lost them."

"It's far too late for that. I've pushed away the only other person who might possibly understand. This is the path I chose to go down two years ago, this is the path I will continue to go down to the bitter end." Hawkmoth swung his staff at Chat Noir.

“I'm sure he'd forgive you if you gave him the chance," he mumbled as he held his baton up to block the cane. Adrien had practiced fencing almost his entire life, but so had his dad, this would be a battle of endurance. Luckily, those odds were in Adrien's favor.

A few feet away, the battle between Ladybug and Mayura was wrapping up. Mayura's major skill was karate, there was no doubt about that, but Ladybug had spent the past nine months, in her free time, learning from the best. Not to mention the power of luck would always be on her side. Mayura went to attack but left an opening in her side, just what she needed to put Mayura into a scarf hold

On Chat Noir's end, it was almost too easy to take down Hawkmoth once and for all. Hawkmoth was too emotional, too tired to try and fight against Chat. A parry, followed by a riposte and Chat had won. It just so happened that the hero team managed to finish their fights at the same time so, when each went to take the miraculous off of each of the villains, the identities were exposed at the same time.

Instead of being shocked at the grand reveal, Ladybug could only look at Chat in concern, hoping he wasn't taking everything too harshly. When she looked at Chat, however, it was to see him detransform willingly and fall to his knees next to his father, joining him on the ground.

Adrien didn't say anything, tears fell down his face, and he hugged his dad. Gabriel Agreste was the one most shocked, he couldn't move his arms frozen at his side while he sat there, hugged by his son, the one he thought he lost during his idiotic venture to bring Emilie back.

“I know how you feel. Losing mom was the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced, and I’ll probably never experience something so horrible again in my life. She wasn’t supposed to just die like that, she was supposed to be around a lot longer, she was supposed to see me grow up, graduate college, get married, and have kids. She was supposed to grow old with you, dad. But, she’s gone, and she’s not going to get to do all of those things she was supposed to do, and it’s just you and me now. I want mom back too…” The tears wouldn’t stop pouring down his cheeks. “But, at least I still have you. You know that you can’t avoid going to jail, you terrorized Paris for two years, but that’s okay. You’re still alive, we’ll get through this together.”

The son he thought he had lost was kneeling in front of him hugging him. The son he had thought he had lost said he was going to stand beside him as he faced jail time. For the first time, since his wife was put in a coma, tears started to fall from his eyes. Without realizing what he was doing, his arms came up, around his son, and he started to hug the son he thought he had lost forever. 

“You forgive me?” his voice was tentative.

“No dad, I can’t forgive you for this but, I can understand.” The Gotham vigilantes finally managed to catch up to them. Gabriel hung his head in resignation and acknowledgment, he couldn’t blame Adrien for that, especially when he gave him that much of a chance.

“I’m sorry son,” he went over to Nightwing, who had recently transformed back into his normal costume, to be restrained by handcuffs. Natalie was still being held down by Ladybug because she was a dangerous fighter with or without the miraculous until Robin came over to handcuff her.

It took a while for the police to recover from the chaos that ensued once Mayura was de-akumatized and de-transformed. There wasn’t a lot of damage from this battle but Ladybug decided to wait until after the arrest and interrogation before fixing everything and being put on her timer.

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

Adrien decided not to hide his identity as Chat Noir. As a superhero, he had freedom from his home life. Now that his dad was arrested he didn’t have much of a home life anymore. His custody was up in the air at the moment but for the moment his bodyguard “the Gorilla” was the one taking care of him. 

Gabriel didn’t try to hide anything that he had done, and Natalie, realizing that it was over, cooperated as well. The police had asked for the miraculouses as evidence but, as a guardian, Marinette wasn’t about to let the miraculouses out of her possession again, especially not to Mayor Bourgeois. 

In the end, Marinette was happy that it was over but also felt empty. So much time and energy was taken up, just trying to defeat Hawkmoth, and this was how it ended; a man broken by the decisions he made, a son torn away from the last part of his family, a girl never dreaming of becoming a hero but destined to be one anyway, and a city, traumatized by the experience and just hoping to recover. How long would it take to go back to normal? Would things ever be normal again? Some would eventually move on with their life, not everyone would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this chapter made me pissed off at how canon wrote Gabriel all over again. The Missed Opportunities! It's like the show wants to show that there are people who are just a***holes and that are irredeemable (which is true in real life) but, it's fiction! (╯°Д°)╯ ┻━┻  
> We already have enough horrible things in real life without bringing it into our superhero/magical girl cartoon show. At most, pick one character to make irredeemable, not... three, or however many it really is.


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aftermath, pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! (to those who celebrate it and those who don't)  
> The end of the year is upon us and despite that, things don't really seem to be slowing down. So good luck to anyone with finals, good luck to anyone who has to deal with consumer holiday madness, and good luck to those that aren't dealing with stress, may you keep your stress-free life as long as possible.

Everyone crowded around Adrien when he came in through the door. He took a break from school while dealing with the aftermath of the arrest. He had been gone for a whole week and everyone in the class was worried about him. How he was dealing with the news? Was the press bothering him too much? Was he being properly treated?

When Adrien came into the classroom, shoulders hunched over, bags under his eyes, and wearing sweatpants, Nino didn’t hesitate to pull his favorite dude into a hug. It wasn’t long before the rest of the class joined in on the hug. 

Everyone wanted to ask questions but, seeing him so tired, they figured that he had probably had enough of people asking him things like, ‘Are you okay?’, ‘What’s it like having your dad be Hawkmoth?’ ‘What are you going to do now?’. Even Chloe had the tact to not ask something as ridiculous as that. 

Since Gabriel had been arrested, Chloe had been isolated a lot less. There was still resentment about her part in helping Hawkmoth so often, a few times on purpose but, it wasn’t as if she could do that anymore. Their parents also pointed out that it might not be fair to blame Chloe for being manipulated by an adult. 

This was also the reason why the police didn’t bring up Lila during the press conference a few days ago. Gabriel gave testimony that Lila had helped him in setting up some of his plots, but he also made it seem as though he was manipulating the girl into doing these evil actions, instead of Lila just being the evil gremlin she really was. So, until further investigation into the matter, one Lila Rossi was free to go about her everyday life, provided she didn’t leave Paris.

It was also, indirectly, the reason why everyone went from hugging Adrien to glaring at someone because someone had to draw all of the attention back on to them. “It’s so horrible what happened to your father, Adrien, especially with how his company is going bankrupt. It’s so sad that we won't be able to work together anymore since my modeling contract is void now.”

Alix was the first to react, although Lila probably couldn’t hear the scoff as Alix whispered to the rest of them. “The only thing she’s upset about is how the attention isn’t on her anymore.” Lila was still ignorant of the fact that the rest of the class had caught on to her lies.

“It’s such a shame I won’t be able to donate my earnings from modeling to all of those charities anymore,” she didn’t stop, and somehow she didn’t notice the mood in the room change. Finally, Alya couldn’t stay quiet anymore.

At first, when everything was over, Lila stayed in the background, not doing anything serious, she had been like that for about the last three months in fact. So, no one in the classroom really bothered with her. They kept up the pretenses of her lies to avoid her being akumatized. In the last week, Lila hadn’t even spoken up, the rest of the class figured she was done with all of the attention-grabbing and decided to leave well enough alone. Until that moment.

“Look Lila, I don’t know what you’re trying to pull right now, but none of us are interested in your make-belief life. It’s bad enough you tricked us in the first place, but to do it while taking advantage of Adrien’s situation is messed up and unforgivable.”

“Why would you say that Alya? I was just trying to comfort him. Adrien should know that he’s not the only one affected by his dad’s crimes.” The crocodile tears started up and surprisingly, it was Rose that lost it.

Anyone who truly knew Rose knew that when she lost her temper it was terrifying. Being the sweetheart she was though, it usually only happened when anyone she cared about was insulted or beating themselves up. Lila was too self-centered to ever figure this out.

“Stop it, Lila! We already know that you're lying and too self-absorbed to actually care. We are all trying to get through this huge revelation and are offering our support for Adrien but, here you are making it about you, bothering Adrien, and disrupting something nice! Maybe Adrien would like to talk about these things, maybe he doesn’t, if he wants to talk about these things then politely wait for him to bring it up, otherwise, leave it alone and just silently support him!”

The shock seemed too much for Lila, she just stared at everyone. In turn, everyone decided to just ignore her and continue comforting Adrien. Since Lila already broke the ice with her insensitivity Nino asked Adrien if he wanted to let everyone know about everything going on with him.

"I mean, there's not much to tell that isn't already in the news but, I do have some good news." A small smile graced his face. "Apparently my mom isn't dead, she just in some kind of magically induced coma. And Ladybug, along with Zatanna, will be trying to heal her."

"That's awesome dude," Nino slapped his best dude's back in congrats.  
✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿  
It was almost midnight and despite being a large city most people were at home, sleeping or relaxing, celebrating Paris' newfound liberation or just going back to their regular lives. So, despite being the home of 2 million people, it was practically silent.

She stood on the viewing platform looking out at the scene. In some ways, it was creepy, like a ghost town. In other ways it was peaceful. Somehow, she found confidence in the view. Admitting her secret, the secret she had kept all this time, was somehow scary. But, there was no need to keep it anymore, at least not to the people she trusted. Turning around, she faced Chat Noir, Nightwing, Zatanna, and Robin. Robin was there because he was curious, everyone else was there because she wanted them to know who she really was, especially Adrien.

“So, it’s kind of awkward to be doing this, to be honest. I mean, it’s not some grand reveal, no one figured out who I was, I didn’t accidentally reveal it, and there’s no real risk in letting you all know now. Somehow, this isn’t exactly how I imagined this would happen, there is a lot less drama than most superhero comics would lead me to believe.” She wrung her fingers nervously. “Tikki, spots off.”

The pink light washed over her and briefly blinded the other heroes there. Then she heard a gasp of shock from Adrien and loud laughter from Nightwing as he patted Robin’s back. She saw Zatanna looking at her the same as before, Robin standing in a stupor. It seemed like Robin and Nightwing knew who she was if their reactions were anything to go by.

“Marinette.” Chat was mumbling. “Of course! It makes perfect sense. We’re all idiots.”

“I wouldn’t quite say that Chatton. Magic makes everything harder.”

“So, I’m guessing you’ll want my miraculous back now? I mean, I did reveal my identity to a supervillain.” He moved to take off his ring but Marinette stopped him before he could take off the miraculous.

“You don’t need to stop being a superhero, Adrien. He was your dad. I don’t blame you for what happened and I can’t imagine anyone else besides you with the Black Cat miraculous. Anyway, I’m sure Plagg would cataclysm my room if I ever took him away from you.”

The tears welled up in his eyes and he couldn’t stop himself from running up to her and bear-hugging her. Marinette wasn’t positive but she thought she heard a hiss coming from Robin as that happened.

“You’ll still need to come up with a new disguise and name though, Adrien. We can also get Alya to post some ‘covert’ videos of you giving me back the miraculous to cast suspicious off of you.”

“Thank you, Marinette. You really do always have a plan.” She hugged him back, comforting him. 

“It’s no problem Adrien, you're my friend, I’m always going to look out for you.” She turned towards the other heroes at the Eiffel Tower. “I don’t really expect you to tell me your identities. Just so you know. I figure it’s too touchy of a subject for the rest of you to trust me like that.”

“Sorry Little bug, we need B’s approval first before that, we trust you, it’s just that if one of our identities are revealed the rest get revealed too.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. Hopefully, I’ll get to work with you all again.”

“You know… technically you could join the Teen Titans if you’d like.”

“Thanks for the offer, but the Miraculouses have their own order. It would probably be for the best to sort that out.” All she needed to do was talk things through with the guardians. Easy, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story's not over yet, but, for those interested, I will start posting the sequel in January (because I decided that I was going to create more work for myself in December).


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath pt. 2

He didn’t attend classes that day, he and Grayson spent most of the day packing as they were planning to leave tomorrow. But, he was at College Francois Dupont anyway, pacing around the entrance, probably looking like a lunatic to the passersby who spared him more than 5 seconds. He couldn’t help it, when he was angry, he practiced with his katana, when he was frustrated, he worked out, when he was anxious, he paced, a lot. 

She was Ladybug. Marinette was LADYBUG!? He was going to curse magic for the rest of his life. He missed such an obvious relation because of something as random and stupid as magic. He was angry that he didn’t realize it. At the same time, he was happy because she was Ladybug. It meant that she wouldn’t be defenseless, she wouldn’t be careless if anyone tried to go for her because of his identity. It meant he didn’t wouldn’t need to hide his identity.

The new problem was that, now, he had to leave Paris. Which means he couldn’t see her anymore. And all of this was too much for him. He already had trouble processing more than one emotion, let alone four. And all of this was pointless unless she felt the same way he did. He was confident that he was exceptional but, enough people hated him that he knew being exceptional wasn’t enough.

The school bell rang, and he tensed up. A few minutes later students left the building as the school day ended. He finally stopped his pacing and waited to the side to avoid getting trampled by the hoard of teenagers escaping school. It wasn’t long before Marinette made her way out of the building.

She looked better than when he had last seen her. Both because she probably had gotten a good night’s rest and because she wasn’t constantly under stress. At that moment he wondered if what he was doing was selfish. She had no reason to be a superhero anymore, the police in Paris were more than capable of taking care of regular crime and the Justice League would be able to assist in any other case.

He turned around to leave and that was when she saw him. “Damian! Wait up!” He froze in panic not sure whether he should run away or wait for her. His indecision made the choice for him as Marinette caught up to him. “I saw that you weren’t in school today, so I was wondering if everything was okay.”

“Um… yes! Everything is fine. I suppose I never told you but, I am heading back to Gotham tomorrow. So I was preparing my luggage.”

“Oh…” even he could hear the disappointment in her voice. But just as quickly as it appeared she brightened up again. “Well, I look forward to seeing you next September.”

Her words didn’t make sense. “See me again? I won’t be in Paris next school year. What are you talking about?”

“Well, you might not be in Paris but, it just so happens that I am transferring to a school in Gotham. I applied for a year-long exchange program with Gotham Academy at the last minute and I just got accepted yesterday. So, I guess you’ll be stuck with me for a bit longer… Unless you don’t go to Gotham Academy. I’m not sure who many high schools there are in Gotham.” she started to rant.

Before she could go any farther Damian cleared his throat. “Uh no. I go to Gotham Academy. There uh… actually there is something I wanted… no, needed to talk to you about.” This was his chance, he just had to say it. “I… I’m Robin,” his voice was barely above a whisper.

Well, that wasn’t what he meant to say. He buried his head into his hands in a combination of frustration and embarrassment. It’s not like she couldn’t know. His father hadn’t said anything about not telling the Parisian heroes yet but, now it seemed a thousand times harder to confess to her.

After about thirty seconds of just hiding in shame, he finally looked up because Marinette hadn’t said anything and more than anything, the silence gave him more anxiety. When he saw her face, he couldn’t figure anything out. She was staring at him but, what was she feeling? Was it shock, did he hate him now because she seemed to hate Robin, or was it apathy for the entire thing?”

She finally spoke after a few more seconds of composing her thoughts. “I guess that makes things easier,” she shut her eyes in and tilted her head as she tried to collect her thoughts. “It’s easier to get in touch with Damian than Robin, so now I won’t have to call the Justice League again or catch you before you leave. Part of the reason I’m heading to Gotham is that I feel like I need to learn more. I was hoping that you and Batman would be able to teach me a bit more about how to be a superhero, and maybe the rest of the Justice League, especially if I plan on working with the rest of you when the Order of the Guardians is back into shape.”

So that was why she planned to go to Gotham. There was a slight pain in his chest that he couldn’t fully understand. “It’s also easier that I won’t have to tell you my secret again,” Marinette caught him a bit off guard as she continued talking. “I mean, I have no idea how I’d tell you such a big secret. It would be pretty awkward if suddenly while on a date, I just started talking about a whole other life.”

Time froze for a moment as he processed the last sentence. “Date?” he was confused.

“I mean if you still want to? Remember before the last battle, you, uh... you asked me out on a date. Of course! If you changed your mind since then, then I just go die of embarrassment in a corner of my room now but um…!” Her face got as red as a ladybug’s wings.

“No!” Some of the people walking by stopped at his loud voice. Marinette even jumped a bit at how loud he was. “Sorry, sorry… Um, no. I didn’t change my mind. If you’d like… when you get to Gotham in September, would you like to go on a date with me?” his face felt so flushed he thought he was running a fever.

Marinette just smiled the brightest smile he’d ever seen. “Yeah, I’d like that a lot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end. But what about the Order of the Guardians? How will Marinette and Damian's relationship progress from here? What awaits Marinette in Gotham? Well, that is what book two will be for (if you even have those questions).  
> Thank you for making it this far everyone, you've all been so nice and encouraging with your comments and kudos, I truly appreciate it. And because this is the last chapter of the year, happy holidays everyone! ヾ(^^ゞ)


End file.
